Sexually transmitted diseases surged across Europe in 2022, with reported cases of gonorrhoea jumping by nearly a half, data released Thursday shows.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reports syphilis cases alone rose by 34 percent from the previous year, to more than 35,000, chlamydia cases by 16 percent to more than 216,000.
Gonorrhoea cases lead the crisis, jumping by 48 percent to more than 70,000, as “troubling” numbers spike mirroring a similar trend in the U.S. and beyond.
“The numbers paint a stark picture, one that needs our immediate attention and action,” said ECDC director Andrea Ammon in a press conference on the data, Reuters reports.
Untreated infections can lead to a range of health problems including chronic pain, infertility and, for syphilis, neurological and cardiovascular complications.
Cases of lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) and congenital syphilis, when the infection is transmitted from mother to foetus, also increased sharply, the ECDC said, although from lower levels.
FILE/A tissue sample with the presence of numerous, corkscrew-shaped, darkly-stained, Treponema pallidum spirochetes, the bacterium responsible for causing syphilis. (Skip Van Orden/CDC via AP, File)
Rates of infection have been rising for years in many countries, including in Europe, although this was stalled by the coronavirus pandemic as most governments imposed social isolation measures, people stayed home and reporting rates fell, the Reuters report notes.
A leap in infections among young heterosexual people in the latest data, and particularly young women, could be due to a change in sexual behaviour post-pandemic, the E.U. agency said.
The rise in Europe’s rate of sexually transmitted diseases follows a similar pattern occurring in the U.S., as Breitbart News reported.
Syphilis rates are soaring to levels unseen in the U.S. since the 1950s, a federal government report on sexually transmitted diseases in adults revealed in January.
Overall more than 2.5 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were reported nationally in 2022 as the U.S. epidemic of sexually transmitted infections continues to grow.