ANPE An STD test at a pharmacy
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 18:53
More and more people in Europe are contracting an STD. New reports from the European health institute ECDC state that the number of cases of gonorrhea increased by 48 percent in one year. Syphilis increased by 34 percent and chlamydia by 16 percent.
The ECDC calls it a worrying increase. The organization calls on people, among other things, to use contraceptives and to be tested regularly.
Figures from 2022
The ECDC today published new reports on the state of affairs of sexually transmitted infections (STDs) in the countries that have joined the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EER) to belong. That’s a total of 30 countries. In the so-called Annual Epidemiological Reports the number of reported cases in 2022 was examined and these numbers were compared with the previous year.
In 2022, there were more than 70,000 cases of gonorrhea in the thirty countries, the EU member states plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The number of chlamydia reports was more than 216,000. Furthermore, there were more than 35,000 cases of syphilis.
The increase can also be seen in the Netherlands. Gonorrhea increased from more than 6,400 cases in 2018 to around 10,600 in 2022. Nearly 19,000 people were diagnosed with chlamydia in 2018, and in 2022 this number was almost 25,000. In the same period, the number of syphilis cases rose from more than 1,300 to almost 2,000.
“Testing, treatment and prevention are the basis for any long-term strategy,” said European Health Institute Director Andrea Ammon. “We must prioritize sexual health education, access to testing and treatment, and combat the stigma surrounding STDs.”
Less contraception
At the beginning of this year it became clear that the number of young people taking the pill or using a condom was decreasing. One in five young people does not use contraception. In 2017, that was still one in ten. This is evident from a study by Rutgers and Soa Aids Nederland in 2023 among 10,000 young people aged 13 to 25.
NOS Stories previously spoke to young people who exchanged hormones for ‘natural contraception’:
Yet the number of STDs among 13-25 year olds is not increasing, according to research by Rutgers and Soa Aids Nederland. The researchers think that STDs may spread less quickly because the group of young people with more sex partners has decreased. It may also be that the actual number of STDs among young people is higher, because STDs do not always cause symptoms.
Reported last summer News hour, based on RIVM figures up to and including the first half of 2023, that the number of STDs continued to increase among the entire Dutch population. This increase was mainly visible in the number of gonorrhea diagnoses. At the time, Chlamydia was still the most common STD in our country.
2024-03-07 17:53:20
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