New data From the UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) it reveals a trend in the transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STI) between 2023 and 2024.
While the data contained some good news, such as a reduction Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Diagnoses, there was a notable uptick Syphilis Cases at national level, with a strong increase in the number of cases found in heterosexual people, especially heterosexual men.
Continue to read to find out more.
Cases of syphilis have been increasing in the United Kingdom for several years. Try protecting yourself and the people you care about.
What is syphilis?
Syphilis It is a Sti caused by a bacterium that passes between people during sex. It is usually recognized by a separate chancre that occurs between 10 and 90 days after the initial infection. This chancre is usually round, stable and painless, appears at the point of infection. This is usually the genitals, but it may also be in the mouth or anus.
Chancre disappears on its own. However, if left untreated, the infection progresses into a secondary phase, where it can cause flu symptoms such as:
- Rashes
- Fatigue
- Nausea
- Dizziness
- Body pain
- Fever
- Headaches
It is easy to confuse these symptoms with less severe infections, so syphilis so often goes without treatment.
Syphilis can then proceed to a latent stage where it does not cause symptoms, but slowly damages your organs, such as bones, brain, heart and nerves. If left untreated over the years, syphilis may be lethal.
How do you get syphilis?
Syphilis is Sti so you can get it from most species without sexual activity protection. Infected body fluids, such as sperm and vaginal fluids, come into contact with mucous membranes on the genitals, anus and throat, which then absorb the bacteria, giving it the passage to your body.
You can also take syphilis by distributing sex toys without washing them between uses or covering them with condoms.
Since syphilis is an infection that is transmitted by blood, you can also get it through the unsecured tattoo equipment and blood transfusions, although this is very rare in countries with advanced healthcare systems.
Sharing needles for drug use is also known to be a risk factor.
What do the data show?
Cases in England are at the highest level since 1948According to the new UKSHA data. 9.513 Cases of infectious syphilis were diagnosed in 2024.
While the majority of cases were diagnosed in homosexual and bisexual men, There has been a much greater proportional increase in syphilis diagnoses between straight men and women.
There was 1.958 Cases diagnosed between heterosexual men and women in 2023, an increase of 23.8% from 2022 when there were 1,608 cases.
This is despite the fact that the diagnoses of syphilis in heterosexual women remained relatively stable during the same period, increasing only 1%. Including the last stage or complications such as ophthalmic and otosyphilis, total diagnoses increased by 4.6%.
The largest jumps in diagnoses were in heterosexual men between 25 and 64 years.
Among the heterosexual men, where sex partnerships were mentioned, Syphilis was most often diagnosed with those who reported a recent sex partner (53%).
Among all women, where sexual intercourse collaborations were mentioned, Syphilis was most often diagnosed among those with a recent sexual partner (66.1%).
On the other hand, the number of total cases of homosexuals, bisexuals and other men with sexual intercourse with men decreased by about 1.6%.
The data also showed significant drops in the number of diagnoses of other STDs. Gonorrhea diagnoses decreased by 15.9% between 2023 and 2024, while chlamydia diagnoses decreased by 13% over the same period.
Overall, Sti diagnoses decreased by 8.8% from 2023 to 2024.
Why is this happening?
It is not quite clear what has caused this increase in syphilis diagnoses.
UKSHA said the number of syphilis tests increased between 2023 and 2024. This could be the result of displacement of test patterns over time.
To cope with increasing syphilis diagnoses in England, Uksha released a Syphilis Action Plan in 2019. This plan focused on basic interventions to control and prevent this infection. These measures included more frequent tests, partners’ alerts and infection awareness.
How can I protect myself?
Syphilis can harm your health, so it is necessary to protect yourself in any way you can.
First of all, avoid unsafe sex. This includes non -protected sex without barrier contraception, such as condoms.
But if you think you may have been exposed to an infection, you should try immediately. Close a Sti test in a sexual health clinic near you by clicking the button below.
Do not leave your sexual health to luck. It’s always better.
