Although sexually transmitted infections are still at an epidemic level in the US, scientists at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expressing cautious optimism about some decreases emerging in the newest data.

The CDC did not break out most data for county or region, but for New York State in 2023, there were 12,393 cases of all stages of syphilis, or a rate of 63.3 cases per 100,000 people. By both measurements, those numbers were the lowest in three years.

The CDC attributes the small decrease in STIs to a number of factors. Among them is the introduction of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxy PEP), which involves taking the antibiotic doxycycline within 72 hours after unprotected sex.