New data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows record levels of gonorrhoea and syphilis diagnoses in 2022.
The latest data shows:
- gonorrhoea diagnoses increased to 82,592 in 2022, an increase of 50.3% compared to 2021 (54,961) and 16.1% compared to 2019 (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic) – this is the highest number of diagnoses in any one year since records began in 1918
- infectious syphilis diagnoses increased to 8,692 in 2022, up 15.2% compared to 2021 (7,543) and 8.1% compared to 2019 – this is the largest annual number since 1948
- people aged 15 to 24 years remain the most likely to be diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
- in 2022, there were over 400 diagnoses of STIs made each day among young people
In 2022, there were 2,195,909 sexual health screens (diagnostic tests for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis or HIV) performed by sexual health services, an increase of 13.4% compared to 2021 (1,936,455).
While the increase in gonorrhoea and syphilis diagnoses will in part be due to increases in testing, the scale of the increase in diagnoses strongly suggests that there is more transmission of STIs within the population.
Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics and at risk of becoming untreatable in the future, making it vital that people test early and diagnose the infection so that they can prevent passing it on.
