Off the wire
• Judge bars US swimmers from leaving Brazil - reports  • Crediting activity in Macedonia declines in Q2  • Rajoy free to negotiate but no sign of new gov't in Spain  • China's Huawei opens Southern Pacific OpenLab in Singapore  • Spain's public debt hits record high in June  • DPRK denounces U.S. for nuclear arms buildup in Asia Pacific  • 409 fugitives abroad seized in "Fox Hunt" campaign  • Hollande holds defense council to discuss safety in new academic year  • Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Aug. 17  • Council of Europe says action needed to help refugees in Turkey  
You are here: 　 Home

London sees alarming increase in syphilis cases

Xinhua, August 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

More than half of the cases of the sexually transmitted disease Syphilis reported in England in 2015 were in London, according to figures released Wednesday.

Public Health England (PHE) said there has been a sustained increase in the numbers of syphilis cases in England, the majority among men who have sex with men (MSM) although smaller outbreaks among heterosexuals have also been reported.

The government health watchdog said London bears an increasingly disproportionate burden of syphilis cases. It reported that in 2015, a total of 2,811 Londoners were diagnosed with syphilis, accounting for 56 percent of the 5,042 cases in England.

PHE said the rate of syphilis diagnoses in London in 2015 was over three times higher than the rate in England overall, and over five times higher than any other PHE center.

Since 2010 the number of cases of syphilis in Londoners has increased by 163 percent, with a 22 percent increase in the year from 2014 to 2015, the figures reveal.

Although an increase in syphilis was in all London local authority areas in 2015, central London boroughs continued to have the highest numbers of cases.

A PHE spokesman said men who have sex with men in London are disproportionately affected by syphilis and this is worsening, accounting for 90 percent of syphilis cases last year in Britain's capital.

The average patient was aged 36 with three quarters of them white males.

PHE said there was also a sustained transmission of HIV among MSM males in London and also increases in a range of other infections transmitted sexually in that group.

Action is needed to address the sustained high numbers of cases of syphilis in London, by focusing on preventing transmission in MSM, said PHE in its 24-page study released Wednesday.

"Early testing and treatment is essential, in addition to robust contact tracing and promotion of safer sex by both ensuring the ready availability of condoms and tackling the underlying drivers for not using condoms during sexual activity," said PHE.

The agency has urged men who have sex with men to be screened for HIV and STI at least annually and every three months for men having unprotected anal intercourse with casual or new sexual partners. Endit