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All TX Tests

Did more than 40,000 Houstonians test positive for sexually transmitted diseases during the week of June 17, 2024, as a post on Facebook claimed? No, that's not true: The Houston Health Department told Lead Stories that the "post includes overstated numbers and incorrect information." The statistics refer to the entire state of Texas, not just the city of Houston. Furthermore, the agency said, "The numbers represent laboratory tests reported for the entire state whether the test is positive or negative."

The claim appeared in a post shared on Facebook on June 20, 2024 (archived here), which showed a screenshot of data related to sexually transmitted diseases "as of 06/17/2024." A text overlay read, "MORE THAN 40,000 PEOPLE IN HOUSTON, TEXAS WERE DIAGNOSED WITH AN STD LAST WEEK."

A caption that accompanied the post read:

Whew, they out there in Houston playing with all kinds of hot packs 😭😂 North Carolina #'s would probably be in the 100,000 if people went and actually got checked😂

Below is how the post appeared at the time of this publication:

(Source: Facebook screenshot taken Fri June 21 17:39:23 UTC 2024)

The Houston Health Department (HHD) (archived here) told Lead Stories that the above figures do not show diagnoses but total tests administered across Texas -- not just the city of Houston -- regardless of positive or negative results.

Porfirio Villarreal (archived here), HHD public information officer, told Lead Stories that the "post includes overstated numbers and incorrect information." In an email received on June 24, 2024, Villarreal wrote:

The Houston Health Department deeply regrets the misuse of a data system that violated its policies and procedures to protect the public's health. Although the intent was to communicate a public health message, the violation resulted in the sharing of aggregate STD and HIV data on social media. No protected health information or personally identifiable information was released.

The post includes grossly overstated numbers and incorrect information. The numbers represent laboratory tests reported for the entire state whether the test is positive or negative. Statewide, about 1.2 million HIV tests and 1.6 million syphilis tests are reported every year.

The department is conducting a thorough investigation and implementing additional security measures to prevent such future incidents. It would like to use this as an opportunity to urge Houstonians to remain safe and continue to use best health practices. The department sincerely regrets any distress this may have caused and is committed to ensuring the privacy and security of its clients' information.

Villarreal added that the figures in the screenshot are not available to the public, writing that "the data is within an internal database system used by local health departments to conduct public health initiatives, disease investigations, partner notifications, etc."

This misleading post actually shows the number of lab tests done for those diseases for ALL of Texas in a week. It is NOT the number of people diagnosed just in Houston.

It includes both positive and negative tests.

At the time this was written, KHOU had reviewed the same claim.

Other Lead Stories fact checks related to health can be read here.