CDC: 1 in 5 People in the U.S. Have an STI

Around one in five people in the United States have a sexually transmitted infection, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This statistic applies to any given day in 2018, reports the federal agency, which estimated that there were almost 68 million infections prevalent in the country; 26 million of those were acquired that year.

The data underscores the cost of both diagnosed and undiagnosed STIs. The new infections in 2018 alone will cost, in total, around $16 billion in direct lifetime medical expenses. The bulk of these costs, $13.7 billion, is attributed to HIV.

Broken down, the CDC estimates that in 2018 there were "2.5 million prevalent and 13 million incident HPV infections; 18.6 million prevalent and 572,000 incident HSV-2 infections; 2.6 million prevalent and 6.9 incident trichomoniasis infections; 2.4 million prevalent and 4 million incident chlamydia infections; 209,000 prevalent and 1.6 million incident gonorrhea infections; 984,000 prevalent and 32,600 incident HIV infections in people ages 13 and older; 103,000 prevalent and 8,300 incident HBV infections; and 156,000 prevalent and 146,000 incident syphilis infections."

Youth (ages 15 to 24) accounted for nearly half (45.5 percent) of all new infections in 2018.

Read the full release at CDC.gov.