Knox County health officials are sounding the alarm after spotting a worrying local shift in sexually transmitted infections. In a post on Tuesday tied to STI Awareness Week, the Knox County Health Department warned that reported syphilis and HIV infections are climbing, even as chlamydia and gonorrhea have trended down. The agency flagged a particularly sharp rise in congenital syphilis among infants and stressed that routine screening and early treatment can head off serious, long-term health problems. County clinics, the post noted, offer local testing, prevention services, and vaccination options.
What the health department posted
According to the post from the Knox County Health Department, reported syphilis cases in Knox County have “more than doubled” compared with 2020. The agency also reported that congenital syphilis is increasing in infants and that local HIV case counts have risen.
On the flip side, the health department noted that reported chlamydia cases decreased from 2020 through 2025, while gonorrhea reports fell by almost 50 percent over the same stretch. The post added that injection drug use is contributing to local HIV transmission and urged residents to use condoms and consider biomedical prevention options such as PrEP, PEP, and doxy-PEP. The county highlighted its CDC Clinic as a walk-in testing site and provided a contact number, 865-215-5370, for people who want more information.
Statewide trends mirror the local picture
The pattern in Knox County is not happening in isolation. A report from the Tennessee Department of Health shows that syphilis and congenital syphilis climbed markedly between 2019 and 2023, while reported chlamydia and gonorrhea counts fell over that period…