Louisville doctors urge caution as sexually transmitted infections are increasing in Jefferson County

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- One in five people across the country have a sexually transmitted infection.

The rate is also increasing in Jefferson County.

The Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness (LMPHW) Lab conducts tests for sexually transmitted infections. On Wednesday, lab technologists showed WDRB how they test for Syphilis.

First, some of the sample is placed on a card.

Louisville STI test lab (2).jpeg — The Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness Lab conducts tests for sexually transmitted infections. (WDRB photo)

"Once she's done adding the serum to the card, she will add like a charcoal antigen that if the person has Syphilis it will react, and we'll be able to call it reactive if we see a certain pattern," Dr. Leslie Wolf, the LMPHW laboratory technical director, said.

To see that pattern, the card is put on a device and rotates for eight minutes.

Once that's done, it's put into a computer where a camera takes pictures of the samples.

Then, the tech goes through each on to look for that pattern Dr. Wolf mentioned.

"That's what it looks like if it's reactive," Dr. Wolf said. "You can see the clumps of the gray in the center."

This lab alone does nearly 30,000 STI tests per year. That's equivalent to more than 80 tests per day.

"For us, we've kind of had a pretty impressive positivity rate for quite a while," Dr. Wolf said.

Louisville STI test lab (5).jpeg — The Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness Lab conducts tests for sexually transmitted infections. (WDRB photo)

Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and all types of Syphilis have increased in 2021. Doctors with public health said that trend is continuing.

"This is really concerning," Dr. Kris Bryant said. "Some people with sexually transmitted infections don't even know they're infected, because some infections have minimal symptoms, but if not treated they can develop long-term health problems and then of course they can pass that infection on to somebody else as well."

That's why Dr. Bryant said preventative measures, like using protection and getting tested often, are the best ways to get these numbers down.

"We can help," Dr. Bryant said. "We have a sexual health clinic here in Jefferson County that offers testing and treatment as well as counseling."

The clinic charges as little as $40 for testing and treatment. It also takes insurance, but staff members said they will not turn anyone away if they can't pay for services.

For more information on the clinic, click here.

The data tracked from the Louisville Metro Dept. Health and Wellness can be viewed below: