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WORRYING INCREASE IN STD’S;
ESPECIALLY AMONGST YOUNG WOMEN

Sept 02

Recent statistics released by the The Health Protection Agency (HPA) show a substantial increase in STDs in the United Kingdom. Clinics in 2009 reported 482,700 new STD cases - and increase of over 12,000 in a single year.

The data clearly show that people under age 25, particularly females, are most affected by STDs and the HPA's Dr. Gwenda Hughes said that two-thirds of diagnoses were in women aged between 15-24, and equally worrying was the fact that roughly 10 percent of the 15- to 24-year-olds treated for an STD are re-infected within a year.The peak age for STD infection in young women is 19-20, compared to 20-23 for men.

The nature of the disease is that men have a roughly a 1 in 5 chance of infection through intercourse with an infected person, whilst women have a much higher seven in ten chance. Things are further complicated by the fact that some infected people show no symptoms, and may not even know they are infected.

Whilst improved screening and closer monitoring accounts for some of this increase, experts say they are concerned about young people who are vulnerable and lack the confidence to negotiate 'safe sex'. The monitoring has also shown that 14 of the top 20 primary care trusts with the highest levels are London boroughs.

"The numbers we're seeing in teenagers are of particular concern as this suggests they are repeatedly putting their own as well as others' long-term health at risk from STDs," said Dr. Hughes. STD diagnoses were also high among men who have sex with men.

Whilst the figures for genital warts and syphilis have stabilised, gonorrhoea is on the increase. The medical profession is concerned by the fact that resistance to Cefixime, the main antibiotic used to treat gonorrhoea, rose from a negligible 0.1 percent to over 10 percent in just four years. Professor Cathy Ison, a gonorrhoea expert at HPA's Centre for Infections, said: "At the moment the drugs we use in the UK are still effective for treating gonorrhoea. But our lab tests show that the bacteria are becoming less sensitive to these drugs and the worry is that we could see gonorrhoea become a very difficult infection to treat within the next five years, as elsewhere in the world.

"Potentially this means that in the case of gonorrhoea practicing safe sex may eventually be the only way of controlling the infection if new antibiotic treatments cannot be found."

If you have any concerns about your sexual health or that of a partner or friend, please don't hesitate to call us in complete confidence on 0207 510 0300.
For more information about how we can help, see our section on Sexual Health.

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