Epidemiological analysis of chlamydia and gonorrhea cases in La Crosse County, Wisconsin from 2001 to 2020
Abstract
Over 20 million people are diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection each year in
the United States (US). Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae are the two
most reported bacterial infections in the US, with over 1.5 million and 500,000 cases in
2019, respectively. However, these numbers are likely vastly underreported, in part due
to the asymptomatic nature of both chlamydia and gonorrhea. Despite being
underreported, chlamydia and gonorrhea infections continue to rise every year in the US.
In addition to rising case numbers, it has been shown that significant disparities exist in
the rate of infection between age, race, and sex demographic classifications at the
national level. Although, the disparities in chlamydia and gonorrhea infections have been
well described in the US, little research has been done on a smaller community scale,
such as La Crosse County, where both chlamydia and gonorrhea cases have more than
doubled in the past two decades. Through analyzing the demographics of the cases in La
Crosse County, we have found that certain demographic groups carry a higher rate of
infection. The hope is that these findings can provide insight on how to better target
prevention and detection of chlamydia and gonorrhea in La Crosse County.
Subject
Biology
Clinical microbiology
Epidemiology
Sexually transmitted diseases