Sex disease cases soar to highest level in a century

CASUAL sex is fuelling an alarming rise in gonorrhoea, official figures show.

Doctors diagnosed 70,936 cases in England last year – an annual increase of a quarter and the highest figure since records began in 1918. Women and gay men saw the biggest rises, with experts putting the blame on unprotected sex.

Experts warned that gonorrhoea, which can lead to infertility, was becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics.

Syphilis cases have surged by almost 200 per cent since 2010 to 7,982 – the highest level since the Second World War.

Overall cases of sexually transmitted infections increased by 5 per cent, from 447,522 to 468,342, from 2018 to last year, according to the data from Public Health England.

Spokesman Dr Hamish Mohammed said: ‘It is important to emphasise that STIs can pose serious consequences to health – your own and that of current and future sexual partners.’

He said consistent use of condoms was the best defence.

Spikes in sexual infections have been blamed on drug-fuelled intercourse and dating apps promoting casual sex.