By David Mendoza

Over the last several decades, the rate of gonorrhea infections in the United States has fallen considerably. At its peak, there were 464 cases of gonorrhea reported to the CDC for every 100,000 people in 1975. By 2011, the number of cases reported fell 77% to a rate of just over 100 cases per 100,000 people.

As the GIF shows, the decline has been significant across the United States. The drop in the state of Louisiana has been particularly large. In 1984, the Pelican state had a gonorrhea rate of 558 cases per 100,000 people; the rate has dropped 176% since then. In 2011, the state reported a rate of 202 cases per 100,000 people.

Using Louisiana — the state with the highest rate of gonorrhea in 2011 — as a baseline for historical comparison, the state would have ranked 35th in 1984. Back then, thirty-four states reported rates far higher than Louisiana’s current rate.

Nationally, the gonorrhea rate reached its low point in 2009, dropping to 98.1 cases per 100,000 people. Since then, it has increase moderately. The chart above displays the national trend in reported gonorrhea cases since 1970.

The main reason for this tremendous decline is the national gonorrhea control program instituted by the CDC and state health departments in 1973. Through increase surveillance of the disease, they were able to track and treat gonorrhea infections more effectively among young men and women, who have the highest rate of reported cases. Despite this extraordinary national decline, gonorrhea remains the “second most commonly reported notifiable disease in the United States,” according to the CDC. Every year, more than 800,000 new people get infected with gonorrhea.

Data source for the GIF: CDC WONDER Online Database.

Data source for the chart: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011 Sexually Transmitted Diseases Surveillance, Table 1. Cases of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Reported by State Health Departments and Rates per 100,000 Population, United States, 1941-2011.