A local syphilis outbreak has renewed concern over the growing number of people infected with sexually transmitted diseases each year in the United States. With an estimated 19 million new infections reported last year, health officials are warning that just because you’re not showing symptoms it doesn’t mean you’re STD-free.

According to Melissa Brennan, director of Clinical Services at the Broome County Health Department (BCHD), all STDs, including syphilis, can be asymptomatic.

“There’s a pervasive belief in our country that ‘if I had an STD I would know it,’” Brennan said. “That is absolutely not true.”

“Every single STD can be, and often is, completely without symptoms,” she added, listing syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia as examples.

Brennan also said that though the recent syphilis outbreak in Endicott includes less than 10 cases, it’s still a cause for concern.

“Until 2005 we hadn’t seen any syphilis cases since the early 1990s,” Brennan said. “So any cases catch our attention.”

The disease was believed to have been inactive in the area toward the end of the 1990s, but has made a dramatic comeback in the last several years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web site, the number of nationally recorded syphilis cases rose in 2007 for the seventh year in a row.

Theresa Lyczko, public information processor for the Tompkins County Health Department, said that the county has also seen a large increase over the last two years.

“Typically we have had, on average, one case a year,” said Lyczko, who has been working with Health Services at Cornell University and Ithaca College to combat the spread of the STD. “Then in 2007 we had six cases and this year, so far, we’ve had five.”

According to Lyczko, it’s incredibly important to be tested for syphilis because it is a curable disease.

Sharon Dittman, associate director at Gannet Health Services at Cornell University, echoed Lyczko’s statement and said that the number of recent syphilis cases were very unusual for the county.

Four of the syphilis cases reported in Tompkins County were of people affiliated with Cornell University, Dittman also said.

Free syphilis and HIV testing is being provided for Cornell students and faculty for the rest of the semester in response to the cases, Dittman said.

Reports of a syphilis outbreak in Tompkins County, some of which have been linked with anonymous sex acts between people who met over the Internet, broke just weeks before the BCHD issued their warning.

Both Lyczko and Brennan said that they were unaware of a connection between the cases reported in the two counties.

According to University spokeswoman Gail Glover, BCHD indicated that the recent syphilis cases in Broome County could include members of the Binghamton University campus community, though a specific number was not given.

The BCHD offers free syphilis testing, available Tuesdays and Thursdays. Planned Parenthood also offers testing, with fees covered by student insurance or decided on a sliding scale, and University Health Services provides testing for students and requires payment of all laboratory processing.

Syphilis does not necessarily show symptoms at first but can be fatal if left untreated.

The growing number of STD infections has caught media attention recently after a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that one in four teenage girls in the United States has an STD.

According to the report, the two most common STDs found were the human papillomavirus (HPV) and chlamydia. Different strains of HPV can cause genital warts and cervical cancer, while untreated chlamydia, according to Brennan, is the No. 1 cause for female infertility in the U.S.

In Broome County an average of 1,029.4 people per 100,000 of 15- to 19-year-olds have chlamydia. The infection average of the total county population is 231.2 people per every 100,000.

Brennan said the amount of gonorrhea cases reported in the county has also risen significantly because people haven’t been getting treatment since the virus has begun to exhibit fewer or even milder symptoms that don’t get their attention.

Planned Parenthood has also seen a dramatic increase in gonorrhea cases in the area, according to Ingrid Husisian, director of public communications for the Planned Parenthood of South Central New York.

“In 2006 we tested 3,492 women for gonorrhea and came back with eight positives,” Husisian said. “In 2007, 5,236 women were tested with 26 positives.”

While Glover said BU’s Health Services has not seen an increase in sexually transmitted diseases on campus, it’s possible that students have tests done at other locations.

Both Brennan and Husisian stressed the importance of education, safe sex and understanding that not all infections will show symptoms.

Each also advised using the testing and treatment services of BCHD and Planned Parenthood respectively.

“If you don’t look for it, you won’t find it,” Brennan said.