Sexually transmitted infections on rise

 Cases of syphilis and gonorrhoea have risen by a fifth in a year following the emergence of drug-resistant strains, according to new Public Health England figures.

Diagnoses of syphilis are at their highest level for nearly 70 years, with 7,137 cases in 2017. That is a 20 per cent rise on the previous year, and more than twice that recorded in 2012.

Gonorrhoea cases rose by 22 per cent in a year, with almost 45,000 diagnoses in 2017. It comes after a drug-resistant strain of gonorrhoea hit Britain earlier this year. A British man was thought to be the first in the world to develop a strain of the infection that could not be treated with antibiotics. The man, who was infected in south-east Asia, was finally treated with intravenous drugs.

Attendances at sexual health clinics in England rose by 3 per cent between 2016 and 2017 to 3.3million.

Debbie Laycock, from sexual health charity the Terrence Higgins Trust, said the number of infections being diagnosed was still “worryingly high”.