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The California Department of Health is reporting rates of sexually transmitted diseases among young adults are at a record high. Here in Sonoma County, the number of chlamydia cases has doubled over the past 10 years: gonorrhea cases have increased eight-fold and syphilis cases have increased 10-fold from 10 years ago. Dr. Karen Holbrook with the Sonoma County Health Department could not give a definitive reason why but did have some ideas.
“There could be some changes in sexual behavior, more people having unprotected sex for a variety of different reasons,” Said Dr. Holbrook. “It could be also that there’s unrecognized infections, people not having access to care.”