Cumberland County continues to struggle with high rates of STIs

For years, Cumberland County has had some of the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections in North Carolina. A new county-to-county comparison shows they may be among the highest in the country.

Cumberland had the 19th largest total of STI cases per 100,000 residents among all counties in the U.S. in 2023, according to an analysis from the telehealth company Invigor Medical that used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With a total of about 1,591 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV per 100,000 residents, Cumberland ranked 10th among counties with populations between 200,000 and 499,999 residents.

“We have big city problems for such a small type of city and county,” said Alba Natale, a public health nursing supervisor for communicable diseases with the Cumberland County Department of Public Health.

In 2023, Cumberland County saw 3,565 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, according to the CDC data. From January to March of this year, Cumberland County saw 787 newly diagnosed cases of the infections and HIV and AIDS, according to data from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The total is the fourth-highest in the state.

Cumberland County has one free STI clinic, the Adult Health Clinic at its public health department, with 11 clinicians, including Natale. The Cumberland County HIV Task Force works on an average annual budget of less than $10,000.  

The rapid HIV and syphilis testing provided by the Adult Health Clinic has been instrumental to the county’s efforts to test and treat STIs, Natale said. The tests’ speed allows clinicians to provide results and treatment within the same day. This has been especially critical to stopping the spread of syphilis, Natale said, as a quarter of those being tested in the client test positive for the infection.

“People are not waiting a week, two weeks while going out and about,” she said. “They’re getting tested and treated immediately, which decreases the chance of spreading the disease.”

Natale said Adult Health Clinic staff have also done outreach with Cape Fear Valley Health, the Cumberland-Fayetteville Opioid Response Team and Fayetteville State University to increase residents’ access to STI tests and sexual health education.

The work is helping decrease the county’s STI rates despite the rise in residents getting tested, Natale said. Gonorrhea cases have been cut almost in half, and chlamydia cases have dropped by about 46% since 2023, according to the NCDHHS data. HIV and AIDS cases decreased by 17% from 2023 to 2024. Between January and March, the county has seen 17 fewer cases of syphilis than during the same period last year.

The county’s successes come as federal resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS are likely to decrease under President Donald Trump’s administration. Cuts to federal programs like the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, an initiative to help treat low-income people living with HIV access treatment, will likely affect the Fayetteville-based Southern Regional Area Health Education Center’s ability to provide HIV services. 

The Adult Health Clinic is mostly funded by the county, so it won’t be directly impacted by the federal funding decreases.

While acknowledging the county’s high rate of STIs found by the Invigor Medical study, Natale pointed to a study from Innerbody Research that used the same CDC data to find that Greensboro, Charlotte and Raleigh were among the U.S. cities with the highest STI infection rates. Fayetteville didn’t make the list.

Natale also emphasized that individual case numbers better capture the county’s STI rates.

“We are aware that STIs are still an epidemic, not only here in Cumberland County, but all of North Carolina, all of the United States,” Natale said. “But, as a health department, we’re trying our very best to make the community safe and healthy and work with our community partners to ensure that that happens. We will continue to do so, and we’ll continue to work really hard for our community members.”

CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the News Foundation of Greater Fayetteville.