Harris County once again leads Texas in number of STDs, new report shows

>>> See the top Texas counties (and other Greater Houston counties) with the most confirmed sexually transmitted diseases. >>> See the top Texas counties (and other Greater Houston counties) with the most confirmed sexually transmitted diseases. Photo: Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News Photo: Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 26 Caption Close Harris County once again leads Texas in number of STDs, new report shows 1 / 26 Back to Gallery

The annual Texas STD Surveillance Report published by the Texas Department of State Health Services is out.

In 2018, the most recently published version of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention report stated that there are roughly 2,457,118 active STD cases in the United States. In 2017, that figure came in at 2,365,761. A report for 2019 is not yet available.

As a state, Texas saw an estimated 205,732 cases in 2018 — so where do the largest counties in Texas and those around the Houston area stand?

Click through the gallery above to see how notable counties around Houston and the rest of Texas ranked in terms of STDs.

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First, it is important to note that the report only tracks chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases.

According to the annual Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance STD Surveillance Report, STDs increased for the fifth consecutive year – with nearly 2.5 million combined cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis. Cases of congenital syphilis – syphilis passed from a mother to her baby during pregnancy– increased 40 percent from 2017-18.

That report tracks national STD statistics on a year-to-year basis. The population statistics in the slides above are from the 2010 U.S. Census.

Above, you can see which counties in Texas recorded the most STD cases.

Peter Dawson is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | Peter.Dawson@chron.com| Sign up for breaking news alerts