Estimates of the incidence and prevalence of sexually transmitted diseasesin the United States

Background: Accurate, updated estimates of the incidence and prevalence of sexually transmitted infections in the United States remain elusive. The mo st widely quoted number of new sexually transmitted disease (STD) cases eac h year is 12 million. However, this figure has not changed in more than a d ecade, despite improvements in detection methods and the effects of STD con trol programs, Goals: To propose a system for weighing the strength of STD surveillance da ta and to estimate the incidence and prevalence of STDs in the United State s for 1996, using the available published data. Results: We estimate that more than 15 million STD infections occurred in t he United States in 1996, This number exceeds the earlier estimate primaril y because improved detection techniques have allowed an assessment of previ ously undiagnosed infections. Conclusions: Large numbers of new STDs continue to occur each year in the U nited States, with serious health and economic consequences. More than two thirds of our current estimate of 15 million STDs annually consists of two infections-trichomoniasis and human papillomavirus-for which we have only l evel III surveillance data. As the quality of our surveillance data improve s, we can further refine the precision of our national estimates.