Does Drilling Really Spread STDs?

Scott Detrow

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Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

August 17, 2011 | 3:03 PM

Here’s the report House Democrat Mike Sturla referenced, when he made comments about drillers spreading STDs among the “womenfolk.”
Troy Community Hospital presented to the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission in May. The references to an increase in Bradford County STD levels are highlighted.
Update: Hospital administrator Staci Covey says her information was “anecdotal,” but maintains the hospital has seen a definite increase in the number of STDs it has treated in recent years. We’re working on finding specific stats for Bradford County.