Minnesota's epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases climbed to a new high in 2008 with a total of 17,650 new cases. That's 3.5 percent more than the 16,428 new cases reported in 2007, according to the Minnesota Health Department's annual report on chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. The number went up despite a significant drop in gonorrhea. The vast majority of new cases were chlamydia, 14,350 in all, said Peter Carr, director of the department's STD section. The number climbed 7 percent from the previous year, the continuation of a 13-year trend of ever higher rates of infection. Chlamydia cases have more...