STDs hit record
high in Minnesota

Gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis cases hit record-high levels in Minnesota in 2005, with gay and bisexual men in their 30s, 40s, and 50s accounting for most of the new syphilis diagnoses, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. The other sexually transmitted diseases saw significant increases among 15- to 24-year-olds, according to state health department data.

"This is the highest number of cases we have ever seen in a single year," Kip Beardsley, chief of the health department's STD/HIV division, told the Pioneer Press. "It represents an alarming trend that says loudly that too many infected people are going untested and untreated."

A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota says the rise in new STD cases in Minnesota coincides with greater emphasis on abstinence-only sex education in the state's schools. (The Advocate)