STD increase: Blame anti HIV medicines?

A lot of headlines are touting the increase in STD diagnoses in the USA. AFP via Manila Bulletin:

In US, sexuallly transmitted infections hit new highs

But, like the Catholic "abuse" crisis, the elephant in the room is "MSM" or homosexual sex in men.

Between 2013 and 2017, syphilis diagnoses spiked 76 percent, going from 17,375 to 30,644 cases. Men who have sex with men made up almost 70 percent of syphilis cases.' 

Over those four years, gonorrhea cases increased 67 percent — from 333,004 to 555,608 cases. Gonorrhea diagnoses nearly doubled among gay men — going from 169,130 cases in 2013 to 322,169 last year.

translation: about 60 percent are in gay men.

Increases in gonorrhea among women “are also concerning,” said the CDC report, with cases going from 197,499 to 232,587 in a single year from 2016-2017.

they go on to discuss Chlamydia, but you know, with the newfangled idea you don't need yearly pap smears (where we docs routinely did Chlamydia testing) I wonder if some cases are missed.

they go on to lament that gonorrhea now is getting resistant to antibiotics like Zithromax (which also can treat Chlamydia, which often is missed or false negative test).

But not in the article:

It may not be an increase in gay MSM sex, but because of a decrease in the use of protection.

You see, if you take anti HIV retroviral medications, your viral load goes down and the rate of transmission of HIV goes way down too. So the fear of catching HIV is lower, meaning that there is probably less "safe sex" protection being done.

But I can't find the original report at the CDC so this is only an assumption.