Tennessee STD Statistics

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are a huge problem here in Tennessee and around the U.S. As a state, Tennessee routinely ranks among the top half when it comes to how prevalent STDs are statewide, and the city of Memphis has the highest rates of both chlamydia and gonorrhea of all major metro areas in the U.S. Not only that, but the rates of most sexually transmitted infections are on the rise here in Tennessee, mirroring a trend happening nationally.

Which STDs are most common in the state of Tennessee, how has the frequency of them changed in our state over time, and which regions of the state are the biggest hotbeds of STDs? To answer those questions, we’ll turn to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Tennessee Department of Health.

Chlamydia Rates in Tennessee

More than 35,000 people were diagnosed with chlamydia in Tennessee in 2017, the 14th-highest number in the country. But after adjusting for population size, Tennessee falls in the rankings, though the state still has a chlamydia rate in the top 25 nationally.

• See Best Ways to Test for Chlamyida

Chlamydia infections per 100,000 people, top 25

Chlamydia is becoming more common in Tennessee, though the rate is down slightly from the level recorded in 2012.

Tennessee chlamydia rate by year (cases per 100,000 people)

Six of the 10 highest-rate states are in the South, which helps Tennessee rank in the bottom half of the region.

Chlamydia infection rate, Southern states (cases per 100,000 people)

Gonorrhea Rates in Tennessee

Tennessee ranks in the top 20 when it comes to both the prevalence of gonorrhea as well as the sheer numbers of people diagnosed. Additionally, the state’s rate of gonorrhea infections is higher than the national rate.

• See Best Ways to Test for Gonorrhea

Gonorrhea infections per 100,000 people, top 25

Tennessee’s gonorrhea rate has increased by more than one-third since 2013, and the rate has climbed every year since then.

Tennessee gonorrhea rate by year (cases per 100,000 people)

Tennessee ranks in the middle of its Southern regional neighbors for how prevalent gonorrhea is here in the state.

Gonorrhea infection rate, Southern states (cases per 100,000 people)

Syphilis Rates in Tennessee

Tennessee ranks in the top half of the country for its rate of primary and secondary syphilis infections, but the state’s overall rate of syphilis is about 23% lower than the national level.

• Best Ways to Test for Syphillis

Primary and secondary syphilis infections per 100,000 people, top 25

Tennessee’s rate of syphilis infections has climbed steadily over the past five years and is up by more than 40% over the 2012 level.

Tennessee primary and secondary syphilis rate by year (cases per 100,000 people)

Half of the 10 states with the highest syphilis rates are in the South, and Tennessee ranks in the bottom half among Southern states.

Primary and secondary syphilis infection rates, Southern states (cases per 100,000 people)

HIV & Other STD Rates in Tennessee

HIV

Nearly 700 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in Tennessee in 2017. The state’s population-adjusted rate ties Tennessee for No. 16 nationally, though the rate (10.3 per 100,000) is lower than the U.S. rate of 11.8 per 100,000. More good news, HIV is becoming less common in Tennessee, though it’s a small decrease — about 5% between 2016 and 2017. See How to Test for HIV

Hepatitis B & C

For both hepatitis B and hepatitis C, Tennessee ranks among the states with the highest rates of acute infections of both viruses. Tennessee is No. 4 with a hep B rate that’s about triple the national rate, though the rate has fallen over the past couple of years. Tennessee is No. 7 among all states for acute hep C infections, and Tennessee’s rate has gone up by more than 50% since 2013. See How to Test for Hepatitis

HPV

Measuring the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) is notoriously difficult because the most common STD in the world usually does not cause any noticeable symptoms, so few infected people are diagnosed and seek treatment. But understanding how common HPV-caused cancer is can provide one way of understanding a state’s HPV situation, and HPV-caused cancer is, unfortunately, quite common in Tennessee, with the state ranking No. 8 overall. Tennessee’s rate of 13.8 per 100,000 is higher than the national median of 11.7 per 100,000. See How to Test for HPV

STDs in Tennessee Cities

The Memphis metro area, which includes counties in Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee, has the highest rate of both chlamydia and gonorrhea of any other major metro area in the country, and rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis vary widely across the Volunteer State.

Chlamydia

Memphis accounted for more than one-quarter of all chlamydia cases in Tennessee in 2017.

Tennessee cities by chlamydia infection rate (cases per 100,000 people)

Gonorrhea

Nearly 1 in 3 cases of gonorrhea in Tennessee were in people living in Memphis.

Tennessee cities by gonorrhea infection rate (cases per 100,000 people)

Primary and secondary syphilis

About half of all primary and secondary syphilis cases in Tennessee in 2017 were in Memphis or Nashville.

Tennessee cities by primary and secondary syphilis infection rate (cases per 100,000 people)

Conclusion

Not only does Tennessee rank in the top 25 (or even higher) of several common STDs, the rates of most sexually transmitted infections are on the rise here in Tennessee. Making progress against the tide of STDs means knowing what your STD status is. The only way to know for sure is to get tested. While that could seem like a scary prospect, especially if you’re in a high-risk group, the truth is the really scary thing is potentially passing along a serious STD just because you didn’t want to get tested.

Additional References

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV Surveillance Report, Diagnoses of HIV Infection in the United States and Dependent Areas, 2017. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/library/reports/surveillance/cdc-hiv-surveillance-report-2017-vol-29.pdf
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2017. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats17/SRtables.pdf
• Tennessee Department of Health, HIV/STD Surveillance Reports. (Undated). Retrieved from https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/health/program-areas/hiv/STD_Epi_Profile_2017.pdf
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HPV-Associated Cancer Rates by State, 2011-2015. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/hpv/statistics/state/index.htm
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Surveillance for Viral Hepatitis – United States, 2016. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/statistics/2016surveillance/index.htm

Note: Some states have published more recent data for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and primary and secondary syphilis. For states in which that’s the case, we have substituted the individual state data for 2018 and used that in our rankings, while other states’ rankings are based on 2017 numbers. In some cases, we assume that when the full national dataset is published by the CDC, states’ positions relative to other states will change some, though those changes are unlikely to be dramatic, since the CDC data comes from the states.

by AtHomeSTDKit

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