3 Ways Healthtech Can Tackle the STD Surge

In April 2023, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention published its most current and complete data for nationally notifiable sexually transmitted infections in 2021. STD surveillance data is collected from a variety of sources, including healthcare providers, public health clinics, laboratories, and other health agencies. Once collected, the data must be reviewed, processed, and analyzed to ensure accuracy and completeness. This process can take several months to a year, depending on the complexity of the data and the number of cases reported, which is why the CDC releases the report two years after data is collected.?

The CDC underscores the need for technological advancements to tackle the surge in STDs recorded in 2021. As part of a “whole-of-nation, whole-person” approach, healthtech can continue to build and implement solutions that shift the tide of the STD surge, especially for vulnerable and marginalized populations. Below are some examples of how healthtech can improve STD screening and treatment.?

Telehealth could close STD care gaps for African-American patients?

In 2021, Black or African American people accounted for nearly a third of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis cases, but make up just 12 percent of the U.S. population. Resistance to traditional care services, including those that reduce STD spread through regular screening, is likely a result of medical trauma and medical racism many Black patients still experience, along with historical injustices in medical settings. Telehealth, however, can give Black and African-American patients more control over their healthcare experience, and may be a productive alternative to screening patients in-person.?

A Penn Medicine study found that telehealth erases — not reduces, erases — racial care gaps in completed doctor visits. Completed primary care visits for African American patients rose from 60% to 80% as a result of the COVID-19 shift to telehealth. According to the report, these patients took part in telemedicine much more often than non-Black patients. The CDC recommends that physicians screen all sexually active adults at least once a year, which often takes place during a primary care visit. Traditional medical institutions can partner with at-home testing service providers to enable remote diagnostics for STDs as a part of primary care through telehealth.??

At-Home diagnostics can screen pregnant people for syphilis?

One of the most disparaging statistics in this latest CDC report is the dramatic increase in congenital syphilis. Children born with congenital syphilis can experience bone damage, severe anemia, enlarged liver and spleen, jaundice and other complications. Syphilis is a disease that historically impacts men who have sex with men. Indeed, men who have sex with men accounted for 46.5% of all male primary and secondary syphilis cases in 2021, but rates of syphilis in women increased 55.3% during 2020 to 2021.?

Pregnant people face prenatal barriers to care such as services cost, financial problems, having a long waiting time to care and poor transportation, which may impact STD screening rates while pregnant. One way to screen pregnant people for syphilis could be to implement widespread at-home diagnostic services in addition to in-person obstetrics. Physicians offering to mail-in STD tests home could reduce transportation costs and other barriers to care.?

Investors should devote resources to developing alternative care to drug-resistant gonorrhea?

In addition to STD screening, which enables patient treatment in a timely manner and can reduce the spread of STDs, healthtech investors should consider funding initiatives to combat drug-resistant gonorrhea. Based on surveillance data, half of all gonorrhea infections were estimated to be resistant or have elevated minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) to at least one antibiotic in 2021. Cephalosporin antibiotics are the recommended treatment for gonorrhea, and cephalosporin-resistant strains would have devastating consequences for the spread of gonorrhea in the future. The CDC already encourages research and development of new treatment regimens, and has committed resources to Strengthening the United States Response to Resistant Gonorrhea (SURRG), initiated in 2016. Healthtech companies and investors could help address the emerging threat of antimicrobial-resistant gonorrhea, as there are few options left that are “simple, well-studied, well-tolerated.”

Ash Wellness works with clients around the country, including public health departments and digital health companies, to offer at-home remote testing to reduce barriers to care for vulnerable and at-risk communities. We support remote STD testing services that connect patients to care through our Ash Portal. Set up a time to chat with us here.