England’s number of syphilis cases is putting a major strain on the council resources because they’re at their highest levels since 1949.
According to the latest figures, there were more than 7,100 syphilis cases diagnosed in 2017, which is 20 percent higher than the year before and two times more than 2012. Most cases were seen in 25 to 34-year-olds (33 percent). 35 to 44-year-olds accounted for 26 percent.
The figures from Public Health England showed that 78 percent of the cases involved men having sex with men.
The agency called for better services in the STI prevention and treatment.
Councillor Izzi Seccombe said this isn’t a time for complacency, and councils need to understand the need to invest in prevention services and help reverse the numbers of STI cases. Without the investment of prevention services, health inequalities will continue, and councils may not effectively respond to outbreaks.
She said the government must enact public health grants once more to deal with the thin STI services.
According to the figures, the number of new STI diagnoses stayed relatively the same, with the exception of gonorrhea cases where there was a 22 percent increase. The Public Health England is concerned about the rise in gonorrhea cases.
The agency followed the first highly-resistant gonorrhea case, in which doctors had to use two kinds of antibiotics to treat the condition.
The data also showed there was an eight percent drop in people testing for chlamydia. Since 2015, there has been a significant drop in reproductive and sexual health service with chlamydia testing falling by 61 percent.
The agency said this, along with other was possibly due to a decrease in service provision.
Written by Mark Riegel, MD
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