Trump makes STDs great again, Brunswick Beacon

Brunswick Beacon, 04.23.25

If, when you voted in November, you thought, “What America needs is more sexually transmitted diseases,” you’ll be happy to know that President Trump delivered. 

Gonorrhea, commonly called "the clap," is an STD that can cause infertility. An untreated mother can infect her baby during childbirth, causing blood and joint infections and blindness.

The good news is it’s easily cured in most people with antibiotics. The bad news is that diseases can develop resistance. Only one antibiotic still works against gonorrhea, making it one of our five most urgent public health threats.

The STD lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) employed 77 scientists to study gonorrhea and other STDs for drug resistance and ensure that we have effective antibiotics to prevent outbreaks. 

Trump fired them and closed the STD lab entirely. “We were shut down midair, there was no warning,” a CDC official said. “It was completely unplanned and chaotic.” Scientists were locked out before they could secure 30 freezers full of hazardous samples, which were left unattended. “They’re irreplaceable,” said one employee.

The scientists were also developing alternatives to the nation’s outdated syphilis test, which cannot identify an active infection, only whether someone was previously infected. Nearly 4,000 babies were born with congenital syphilis in 2023. About 280 were stillborn or soon died.

No other CDC researchers or universities have the expertise to continue this work. Commercial labs don’t do it because it isn’t profitable. Trump “just doesn’t understand how important the lab is,” said a senior CDC official. Without it, said Jeffrey Klausner, professor of infectious diseases, “We are blind.”

STDs surged to record highs during Trump’s first term due to cuts in reproductive health, giving us the highest STD rates in the industrialized world. They declined under Biden. Trump closing the STD lab guarantees another surge. If this is what you voted for, you should applaud President Trump. He certainly earned the clap.

Larry Widman

Leland