ATLANTA - Gonorrhea has leveled off in the United States, but rates are rising in many of the cities hardest hit by the infection -- a finding health officials say is unacceptable. <br>
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday that the national gonorrhea rate stabilized in 2000 after rising nine percent from 1997 to 1999. But the disease rose in 2000 in 13 of the 20 cities with the highest rates. <br>
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Gonorrhea is quickly diagnosed and can be treated with antibiotics. Left untreated, it can facilitate the spread of HIV and cause chronic pelvic pain and infertility. <br>
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The national gonorrhea rate in 2000 was 131.6 cases per 100,000 people, down from 132 in 1999. <br>
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But the disease rose more than 20 percent in five cities that already had high rates Kansas City, Missouri; Buffalo, New York; Jacksonville, Florida; Birmingham, Alabama; and Detroit. <br>
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It dropped more than 20 percent in Atlanta, Washington and Chicago. The CDC called for more study to find out which prevention methods worked and which didn't in the cities. <br>
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The gonorrhea figures were presented at the CDC's National STD Prevention Conference in San Diego.
