---
title: O.C.G.A. § 31-17-1. Sexually transmitted diseases.
collection: code
id: 31-17-1
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 31-17-1 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-17-1
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-17-1.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-17-1/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t31-(v23)-2025-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=da7ded69_0#page=832
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-17.md
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index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia
heading_path: HEALTH / CONTROL OF SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES
---

# O.C.G.A. § 31-17-1. Sexually transmitted diseases.

As used in this chapter, the term “sexually transmitted diseases” means syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and any other diseases that the Department of Public Health, through rule or regulation, declares to be contagious, infectious, communicable, and dangerous to the public health.

## History

Ga. L. 1918, p. 275, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-501; Code 1933, § 88-1601, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1; Ga. L. 2020, p. 55, § 8/SB 372; Ga. L. 2024, p. 143, § 3/HB 1028, effective July 1, 2024.

## Amendments

The 2024 amendment, effective July 1, 2024, substituted the current provisions of this Code section for the former provisions, which read: “Syphilis, gonorrhea, and chancroid, hereinafter referred to as sexually transmitted diseases, are declared to be contagious, infectious, communicable, and dangerous to the public health.”