Posting this because it's a military readiness as well as a societal issue. Certain diseases make one non-deployable, impacting the unit.
Sexually transmitted disease cases are rising in the military in line with a record number of reported cases across the civilian population in the U.S.
"Not long ago, gonorrhea rates were at historic lows, syphilis was close to elimination, and better chlamydia diagnostic tests and more screening were available," Dr. Gail Bolan, the Centers for Disease Control's director of STD prevention, wrote in a recent agency report. "That progress has since unraveled."
The CDC reported its highest-ever number of STD cases this year after increases over a three-year period. Similar rising trends are being seen in the military.
Syphilis diagnoses doubled during the past decade, according to the military's Medical Surveillance Monthly Report released in September. Chlamydia and gonorrhea cases, stable or declining since a spike in 2008, also were beginning to rise.
Gonorrhea cases have doubled in less than a year at Vicenza, said Lt. Col. Orlando Ruiz Sosa, chief of preventive medicine at the Army's base health center. Chlamydia cases have increased by more than a third, Ruiz Sosa added.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/12/05/military-rate-sexually-transmitted-disease-defies-treatment-efforts.html?ESRC=airforce_a_171206.nl
