Have you been tested? A look at area STD rates by county

Sep 5, 2018 12:47 PM Sep 6, 2018 3:16 PM

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WOOD RIVER – The Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a report at the end of August claiming sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) are at an all-time high in the U.S., increasing from more than 2 million in 2016 to a record-breaking 2.3 million new cases in 2017.

These cases include chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. According to public health officials following that late August release, this increase is due partially to a decrease in condom usage. It also marks the fourth consecutive year STDs have been on an increase in the U.S. based entirely on CDC data. When looking at it on a local level, however, this numbers and rates are not as applicable. In the words of an official from the Madison County Health Department, it is like “comparing apples and oranges.”

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“Madison County does have STDs,” Madison County Health Department Public Information Officer Amy Yeager said. “But you have to be really careful when you talk about data. The CDC may collect and analyze data differently from how Madison County and Illinois do it. The rates are relative to the amount of people being tested. If you increase the number of days offering testing, or do promotional campaigns, or if there is a national campaign or anything to increase testing of anything, you will see an increase in the rates. It's not that there was anything new, it's just realizing something you didn't know was there.”

When it comes to STD prevention, Yeager advises people use protection – such as condoms, which are the only form of contraceptive able to prevent STDs – get tested, and talk to their partners about prevention methods.

STD rates, however, are collected and monitored by the Madison County Health Department, but are not released to the public except through the state.

So what do those numbers look like? Well the data is only available as recently as 2016, and a lot of things can happen in a year and a half, but here is how local counties look:

Madison County (pop. 266,209 as of 2015)

2012 – 1,120 cases of chlamydia (415.9 per 100,000), 212 cases of gonorrhea (78.7 per 100,000) and 2 cases of syphilis
2013 – 1,100 cases of chlamydia (408.5 per 100,000), 173 cases of gonorrhea (64.2 per 100,000) and 2 cases of syphilis
2014 – 1,072 cases of chlamydia (398.1 per 100,000), 203 cases of gonorrhea (75.4 per 100,000) and 0 cases of syphilis
2015 – 1,050 cases of chlamydia (389.9 per 100,000), 245 cases of gonorrhea (91.0 per 100,000) and 5 cases of syphilis
2016 – 1,091 cases of chlamydia (405.2 per 100,000), 267 cases of gonorrhea (99.2 per 100,000) and 10 cases of syphilis

Jersey County (pop. 22,372 as of 2015)

2012 – 35 cases of chlamydia (204.5 per 100,000), 3 cases of gonorrhea (13.1 per 100,000)
2013 – 34 cases of chlamydia (169.7 per 100,000), 3 cases of gonorrhea (13.1 per 100,000)
2014 – 36 cases of chlamydia (191.4 per 100,000), 5 cases of gonorrhea (21.8 per 100,000)
2015 – 37 cases of chlamydia (191.4 per 100,000), 7 cases of gonorrhea (30.5 per 100,000)
2016 – 35 cases of chlamydia (174.0 per 100,000), 4 cases of gonorrhea (17.4 per 100,000)
There were no reported cases of syphilis in Jersey County from 2012-2016

Macoupin County (pop. 46,045 as of 2015)

2012 – 127 cases of chlamydia (265.9 per 100,000), 17 cases of gonorrhea (35.6 per 100,000)
2013 – 131 cases of chlamydia (274.3 per 100,000), 6 cases of gonorrhea (12.6 per 100,000)
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2014 – 112 cases of chlamydia (234.5 per 100,000), 15 cases of gonorrhea (31.4 per 100,000)
2015 – 115 cases of chlamydia (240.8 per 100,000), 14 cases of gonorrhea (29.3 per 100,000)
2016 – 127 cases of chlamydia (265.9 per 100,000), 18 cases of gonorrhea (37.7 per 100,000)
There were no reported cases of syphilis in Macoupin County from 2012-2016.

Greene County (pop. 13,241 as of 2015)

2012 – 24 cases of chlamydia (172.8 per 100,000), 4 cases of gonorrhea (28.8 per 100,000)
2013 – 38 cases of chlamydia (273.7 per 100,000), 0 cases of gonorrhea (0 per 100,000)
2014 – 32 cases of chlamydia (230.4 per 100,000), 1 case of gonorrhea (7.2 per 100,000)
2015 – 22 cases of chlamydia (158.4 per 100,000), 1 case of gonorrhea (7.2 per 100,000)
2016 – 13 cases of chlamydia (93.6 per 100,000), 4 cases of gonorrhea (28.8 per 100,000)

There was one case of syphilis in 2016 in Greene County.

Calhoun County (pop. 4,899 as of 2015)

2012 – 8 cases of chlamydia (157.2 per 100,000), 0 cases of gonorrhea (0 per 100,000)
2013 – 9 cases of chlamydia (176.9 per 100,000), 0 cases of gonorrhea (0 per 100,000)
2014 – 8 cases of chlamydia (157.2 per 100,000), 1 case of gonorrhea (19.7 per 100,000)
2015 – 6 cases of chlamydia (117.9 per 100,000), 0 cases of gonorrhea (0 per 100,000)
2016 – 5 cases of chlamydia (98.3 per 100,000). 0 cases of gonorrhea (0 per 100,000)

From 2012-2016, there were no cases of syphilis reported in Calhoun County.

But what do these numbers actually mean? Of course the number of STDs will be lower within a county the size of Calhoun, which has less population than many Madison County towns and cities, than in Madison County. The rates per 100,000 can also be deceptive. As Yeager said, more people getting tested as well as access to testing facilities and sexual education are also factors driving this data. While Madison County's data looks high, it could also be due to the amount of testing facilities as well as the accessibility of those facilities. But, yes, it could also be due to a concentration of more STDs in the county.

“When we got a grant for more prostate cancer funding a few years back, we saw a definite uptick in prostate cancer rates in the county,” Yeager said. “It did not mean we had a prostate cancer problem, it was because we spread those screenings to hospitals and made it more accessible to more men. It was really high in African-American men. When it's caught early, it is curable, so we helped a lot of men catch it early.”

Eventually, Yeager said, those rates will “level out” and will provide a better overall picture of that data.

People can get screened for STDs if they are asymptomatic at the Madison County Health Department's Walk-in Clinic, located at 101 E Edwardsville Road in Wood River. These screenings, which only test for diseases without an exam, are available from 1-5 p.m. every Monday. The cost is $24.

For those experiencing symptoms – a complete list of STDs and their symptoms can be found on the CDC's website, www.cdc.gov – a nurse practitioner is available every Tuesday morning by appointment only for both a screening and an exam. That is $37. Most insurance is accepted as well.

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