The Facts:

• About one in every six adults and one in four sexually active adolescents in the U.S. has had a sexually transmitted disease. Two-thirds of all STDs occur in adolescents and young adults. About 500,000 Georgians reported having had an STD within the last ten years.
• In the latest statistics, 18,541 Georgians were diagnosed with gonorrhea, 16,196 with chlamydia, and 1,641 with syphilis.
• Individuals infected with chlamydia often show no symptoms; 80 percent of all women and 70 percent of all men with chlamydia infections will have no symptoms of disease. Gonorrhea causes no symptoms in up to 80 percent of women and 10 percent of men.
• Chlamydia rates in Georgia are among the highest in the U. S.
• About 40 percent of all women who have chlamydia will develop pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), while 10 to 20 percent of women with untreated gonorrhea will develop PID.
• PID causes infertility in up to 20 percent of women and is the only preventable cause of infertility. After a single episode of PID, 18 percent of women will develop chronic pelvic pain. Nearly one in ten women will experience an ectopic pregnancy, a life-threatening complication of PID caused by scarring in the tubes.

The Costs:

• Healthcare costs for the 4 million new cases of chlamydia that occur in the United States each year are estimated at $2.2 billion.
• About 1.3 milion cases of gonorrhea occur in the United States each year. Health care costs for those cases are estimated at almost $1 billion.
• Nationwide, more than 100,000 women become infertile as a result of PID, costing an estimated $200 million each year for infertility-related healthcare. PID cases in the United States total 1 million a year, with healthcare costs reaching $4.2 billion.
• The cost of treating an adolescent or adult with syphilis is less than $20. The cost of treating an infant born with congenital syphilis can reach $129,000.

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