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America's STD Crisis: Franklin Graham Says Spike a 'Moral and Spiritual Crisis'

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Evangelist Franklin Graham reacted Wednesday to a report about a shocking increase in sexually transmitted diseases in the US.

In a series of tweets, he said, "The CDC announced yesterday that our nation has set another record, but it's not one to celebrate." 

"Last year nearly 2.3 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases were diagnosed in the U.S. That broke the record set in 2016 by nearly 200,000 cases," Graham points out. 

"An STD expert says that President Trump should declare this a public health crisis.  I believe what America has is a moral crisis and a spiritual crisis.  And it manifests itself in many ways, including this public health crisis.  Sin always has a cost, a consequence. God loves us and wants to protect us.  His Word tells us what to do: 'Flee from sexual immorality.  Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but he sexually immoral person sins against his own body.'" (1 Cor. 6:18).

 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday a "steep and sustained" increase in syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia, adding that the diagnosed cases are likely only a fraction of the actual number of people infected. 

"We are sliding backward," declared Dr. Jonathan Mermin, the CDC's director of sexually transmitted diseases. 

Chlamydia remained the most common condition reported to CDC. More than 1.7 million cases were diagnosed in 2017, with 45 percent among 15- to 24-year-old females.

Primary and secondary syphilis diagnoses increased 76 percent. Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men made up almost 70 percent of primary and secondary syphilis cases where the gender of the sex partner is known in 2017. Primary and secondary syphilis are the most infectious stages of the disease.

Gonorrhea diagnoses increased 67 percent overall and nearly doubled among men. Gonorrhea is of particular concern to health experts because it is on the verge of becoming untreatable.

Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis are curable with antibiotics. However, gonorrhea has become resistant to all but one of them, and experts fear it's only a matter of time before even that one is no longer effective.

"We expect gonorrhea will eventually wear down our last highly effective antibiotic and additional treatment options are urgently needed," said the CDC's Dr. Gail Bolan. "We can't let our defenses down." 

Untreated sexually transmitted diseases can lead to severe adverse health effects that include infertility, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth in infants, and increased HIV risk. 

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