The rates of some sexually transmitted diseases soared in Massachusetts last year, according to a federal report released yesterday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 17,503 cases of chlamydia in the Bay State in 2008. The number represents an 8.4 percent jump from 2007 and a 32 percent spike since 2004, the highest increase in New England over that span.
Also in the report:
- 39 percent – the increase in cases of primary and secondary syphilis, once on the verge of elimination. Of the 216 cases in the Commonwealth, 210 involved men and 169 of those were in the Boston metropolitan area.
- 30 percent – the decline in cases of gonorrhea in Massachusetts since 2004.
