Blue Earth County’s STD rate continues rise - Mankato Free Press

MANKATO — Blue Earth County’s chlamydia rate in 2018 was the second highest in the state, continuing a four-year rise in cases for the sexually transmitted disease.

The county had 455 chlamydia cases last year, equaling 711 per 100,000 residents, according to the Minnesota Department of Health’s annual STD surveillance report.

Since 2015, the county has had a 50 percent increase in total chlamydia cases. Chlamydia is the top reported infectious disease in the state, increasing by 2% last year with 23,564 cases statewide.

Minnesotans between ages 15-34 accounted for 83 percent of all the chlamydia cases. A 2015 report by the Minnesota State Demographic Center found Blue Earth County had by far the most 18- to 34-year-olds per capita of any county in the state, a likely contributor to the the high local rate.

One of the leading STD test providers, the Planned Parenthood health center in Mankato, distributed 7,723 STD tests last year. Shannon Bakshian, Planned Parenthood’s senior director of health care practice and clinical operations, said the rise in STDs could be a result of people feeling more comfortable to seek testing than they would in the past.

“It’s kind of a taboo topic among our population, and it’s been a longstanding issue we’re trying to work through for education,” she said.

Negative tests aren’t tracked like positive ones are, making it hard to confirm how many more people are seeking testing than in the past. Bakshian said further normalizing testing as part of someone’s ongoing health care could help reverse the rising rates.

“Any efforts we can to reduce the stigma associated with STDs in general will help more people get in to be tested and start see those rates come down,” she said.

Christine Jones, the state health department’s STD section manager, said in a release that testing helps people avoid serious health problems associated with undetected STDs.

“Many of these infections have no immediate symptoms,” Jones said. “The only way to know for sure is to get tested.”

Gonorrhea was again the second most commonly reported STD in 2018 statewide, resulting in 7,542 cases. Blue Earth County’s cases spiked from 33 to 54 between 2017 and 2018, but the rate wasn't among the top 10 counties in the state.

Syphilis was the only STD to decline in Minnesota in 2018, although cases of congenital cases in infants jumped from two to 10, making for the highest rate the state has ever reported.

Blue Earth County's chlamydia rate, lower than only Mahnomen County, was an outlier among its south-central Minnesota peers. Watonwan County had the next highest rate at 357 per 100,000, ranking 21st. Nicollet County, which also has high numbers of 18- to 34-year olds, ranked 30th with 306 cases per 100,000. Brown County had the lowest chlamydia rate, ranking 53rd. There are 87 counties in the state.

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