Frisky pensioners see sex diseases leap 40%

CASES of sexually transmitted infections in pensioners have soared by 41 per cent in four years, official figures show.

experts say online dating means older people are finding new sexual partners after becoming widowed or divorced, but many do not use condoms.

Mark Lawton, from the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, said: ‘They’ve not used condoms for 35 years in their marriage, so they don’t start using them now.’

The BBC found that between 2014 and 2018 – the latest period figures are available for – the number of over-65s diagnosed with an STI increased from 1,312 to 1,845. The infections diagnosed include syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia, genital herpes and genital warts.

Over-45s saw a similar rise. One 59-year-old from Bristol, who wanted to be known as Ashley, was diagnosed with HIV. Ashley said: ‘Over-50s think they’re safe, but they’re not. They think that because nobody can get pregnant any more there’s no danger – because those illnesses are for young people. But they’re not, they’re for everybody.’

Last year cases of gonorrhoea reached a 40year high, with more than 56,000 people diagnosed. Over-65s saw the highest proportional increase, with cases up 42 per cent to 336.

The data from Public Health england also showed a 5 per cent annual increase in STIs to 447,694 cases.

Almost half of these diagnoses were for chlamydia, with 15 to 24-year-olds most commonly affected. But rates of the STI also rose by more than a quarter among over-65s.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘We strongly urge people of all ages to practice safe sex by using condoms and to take advantage of their free, local sexual health services if they consider themselves to be at risk.’