Cases of major sexually transmitted infections rose to more than 2.5 million in 2021, U.S. health officials said in a revised final report, led by rates of syphilis that increased more than a third from a year earlier.
Rates of syphilis rose about 32% in 2021, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had said in a preliminary report last year that it expected a 26% increase. Cases among infants, who can become infected during pregnancy, also jumped by about a third, leading to 220 stillbirths and infant deaths in 2021, the CDC said in a report Tuesday.
Such cases have risen every year in the past decade, according to the CDC. Congenital infections can cause severe disease in infants including bone deformities, blindness and loss of hearing.
