Somebody give Grandpa a box of condoms, already.
Sex-crazed senior citizens are driving a major spike in the rise of STIs across the country, salacious new statistics revealed — with one surprising state leading the horny charge.
In 2022 — the year with the most recent data — more than 2.5 million cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia were reported in the United States, the CDC stated. It’s expected that the 2023 numbers “will be worse,” experts are warning.
For now, health officials have registered “alarming concerns” over the ongoing epidemic, “signaling an urgent need” to address the situation.
Rates of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia in sexually active people over the age of 55 more than doubled in the U.S. over the 10-year period from 2012 to 2022, the statistics showed.
In the last decade, the number of syphilis cases in this age group increased seven-fold, gonorrhea cases increased nearly five-fold and chlamydia cases more than tripled.
Sex-crazed seniors in South Dakota are leading the risk-prone pack — with the highest rate of syphilis cases with 6.1 per 100,000 people, Daily Mail reported.
Washington, DC, led the way in gonorrhea diagnoses, with roughly 29 cases per 100,000 people.
Alaska recorded the highest rate of chlamydia in seniors at nearly 18 cases per 100k.
STIs pose health risks to people of all ages. However, older adults have a harder time clearing infections and can even be more susceptible to contracting them.
Experts have shared that several factors are contributing to rising STI rates among older adults.
People are living longer and maintaining active lifestyles, with a 2018 AARP survey showing that 40% of those aged 65 to 80 are sexually active and nearly two-thirds are interested in sex.
But only 8% of sexually active seniors reported using condoms all the time, another AARP survey found.
Many older adults are said to lack knowledge about STI transmission and prevention. They often don’t think to use condoms since pregnancy isn’t a concern.
“Back in the ’30s, the ’40s, the ’50s, traditional school wasn’t really doing sexual education very formally,” Matthew Lee Smith, an associate professor at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, told NBC News.
On top of that, healthcare providers often hesitate to discuss sexual activity with older patients, and older adults may feel uncomfortable talking about their sex lives with others.
“No one wants to think about grandma doing this,” Smith said. “You certainly aren’t going to ask grandma if she was wearing condoms — and that’s part of the problem, because every individual regardless of age has the right to intimacy.”
Additionally, some older men face challenges with condom use due to dexterity issues or erectile dysfunction. Meanwhile, hormone replacement therapy and erectile dysfunction medications can enhance sexual desire and activity.
Many older adults also only had one sexual partner until they divorced or were widowed but have now multiple partners — especially as women outlive men and have fewer romantic options.
Late last year, Health and Human Services created the National Syphilis and Congenital Syphilis Syndemic (NSCSS) Federal Task Force in a bid to help slow the spread of the disease, but the impact has not yet been recognized.
However, the NCSD warned that the 2022 data does not reflect the impact of the shortage of Bicillin L-A (a congenital syphilis drug) which began last spring, or last summer’s STI workforce cuts due to the debt ceiling deal.
“The reality is that the 2023 data will be worse,” the NCSD stated.
And American senior citizens aren’t the only ones health experts are worried about.
The World Health Organization has issued a warning about an “alarming decline” in condom use among adolescents that is expected to lead to a long list of consequences, including higher STI rates and increased healthcare costs.
