By Kwedu News
Sky News reports that the United Kingdom (UK) reached record levels of STI infections such as gonorrhoea and syphilis in the past year, 2022.
The reports says there was a 50.3% increase in reported gonorrhoea cases, rising from almost 55 000 cases in 2021 to over 82,500 cases.
A health expert quoted in the report said the hardest hit age group are young people from the ages of 15 to 24.
“The number of gonorrhoea and syphilis diagnoses was the highest on record last year, new figures show.
“Annual figures from the UK’s Health Security Agency (UKHSA) show gonorrhoea diagnoses increased to 82,592 in 2022, an increase of 50.3% compared with 2021 (54,961).
“This is the highest number of diagnoses in any one year since records began in 1918,” the Sky News report said.
Syphilis cases reported in 2022 increased to over 8,600: “The largest annual number since just after the Second World War,” the report said.
Changing of sexual partners more often than other age groups has been attributed to youths being the most affected the Kingdom.
One Dr. Hamish Mohammed, an Epidemiologist with the UKHSA warned that STIs can have major impact on one’s health.
“Condoms are the best defence, but if you didn’t use one the last time you had sex with a new or casual partner, get tested to detect any potential infections early and prevent passing them on to others.
“Testing is important because you may not have any symptoms of an STI,” Dr. Mohammed is quoted as saying in the Sky News report.
The rise in the cases has become a burden to local councils health facilities in the UK, with limited funding.
Councillor David Fothergill, the Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing board, quoted in the Sky News report, said the new statistics show that local council sexual health services are at risk of breaking point.
He said the rising demand is coming at a time where there are cuts to funding.
On a positive note, Councillor Fothergill said it is encouraging that more people are visiting their local sexual health clinics.
He said the clinics are becoming “increasingly unsustainable without a long-term increase in councils’ public health grant, which goes towards funding vital sexual health services.”
Though STIs are usually easily treated with antibiotics, some including gonorrhoea and chlamydia can cause serious health issues including infertility and pelvic inflammatory disease, Sky News reported.
UKHSA is said to have encouraged the use of condoms and getting tested regularly if one is having sex with new or casual partners.
“In 2022, there were 2,195,909 diagnostic tests for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis or HIV, 13.4% more than 2021.
“The UKHSA said that while the rise in gonorrhoea and syphilis diagnoses will partly be due to increases in testing, the sharp rise ‘strongly suggests’ there is more transmission of STIs in the population,” the report said.
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