While gonorrhea has fallen to the lowest level on record in the United States, St. Louis ranks No. 1 in the nation.
St. Louis ranks second in the number of cases per capita in chlamydia and is fifth in the number of syphilis cases.
Sexually transmitted bacteria cause all three diseases.
The nation’s gonorrhea rate fell to 113.5 cases per 100,000 people last year, the lowest level since the government started tracking cases in 1941, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At the same time, health official saw increases in syphilis, which is far more rare but has been increasing since 2000. The rate of reported early-stage syphilis was 2.7 cases per 100,000 in 2004, up 29 percent since 2000.
The chlamydia rate rose to 319.6 cases per 100,000 in 2004, up about 6 percent from the year before.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 2,440 cases of gonorrhea reported in St. Louis, an alarming 734 cases per 100,000 people. There were 4,130 cases of chlamydia, 1,243 cases for every 100,000 people.
Dr. William Kincaid, who returned for a second stint as Health Department director on Monday, told the Post-Dispatch, “We know if people are having unprotected sex and are spreading chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea, they are also spreading HIV.”