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.