The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) reports cases of gonorrhea increased by one -thousand in 2017 for a preliminary total of 36-hundred cases. The number of cases have increased by 145 percent since 2013. Health Department S-T-D Program Manager George Walton says the gonorrhea increase has been more noticeable in one group.
He says the numbers for gonorrhea are a concern when compared with other diseases.
Walton says factors such as neighborhood location, economic opportunity, income, rates of incarceration and even the number of alcohol outlets in particular neighborhoods have been associated with higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases in some populations.
