Shocking figures show children as young as 13 are being treated for STIs

Our nation’s schoolchildren may need much better and effective sex education, following the findings of a new study that show 1,000s of children as young as 13 are contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

According to the Daily Star Sunday a new Public Health England study has shown that in particularly, new cases of teenage chlamydia are on the rise, with 178,845 cases in youngsters under the age of 19 and 2,938 discovered in teenagers aged 13 or 14, in the last 5 years alone.

The alarming figures also show how over 2 teenagers under the legal age of consent (16-years-old) are getting STIs such as genital herpes each day.

Moreover, an estimated 18,085 people under the age of 18 have contracted gonorrhoea during the previous 5 years, in addition to 20,842 cases of herpes, whilst syphilis, which can be fatal, was contracted 442 times.

The statistics are almost certain to concern parents and doctors, and force the government to put extra effort into boosting the country’s sex education classes.

Dr Michael Brady, medical director at the Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “We still have much to do to address the nation’s poor sexual health and the rates of STIs in those most at risk.

“Young people are disproportionately affected by STIs. One of the reasons for this is that we still don’t provide every young person with comprehensive and appropriate Sex and Relationships Education (SRE).

“A reduction in STIs must be a public health priority and as a fundamental part of this, the Government needs to ensure every young person has access to effective SRE that gives them the knowledge and skills to enjoy healthy and safe sex lives.”

Jules Hillier, head of the sexual health charity Brook, commented: “Too many young people aren’t getting the information they need about sex and relationships from their schools, while sexual health clinics are under threat due to cuts.

“We need to invest in education and services for young people to help them stay safe and healthy.”
It isn’t just the younger generation where STIs are on the rise though…Cases of STIs are going up across all age groups. From 2010 to 2014, the number of people being diagnosed with gonorrhoea has more than doubled, leaping from 16,843 to 34,958.

Meanwhile, syphilis cases have shot up from 2,647 in 2010 to 4,317in 2014 and herpes has increased from 29,698 to 31,777 in the same time period.

Surprisingly perhaps, chlamydia cases have dropped from 207,797 in 2012 to 206,774 by 2014.
Public Health England say that over the past 10 years the number of cases of STIs such as gonorrhoea, syphilis, genital warts and genital herpes have gone up – notably amongst males.
In England, young heterosexual people aged 16 to 24 account for:

• 63% of chlamydia cases.
• 55% of gonorrhoea cases.
• 52% of genital warts cases.
• 42% of herpes cases.

New figures show rise in STIs in the over 50s

Dr Sean Cummings a Harley Street clinic that specialises in Sexual Health, has claimed that sexually transmitted infections in the over 50 year olds are now more common than first realised.

He has described the story of a mother of three in her late 50s who visited his clinic after having been a divorcee of 5 years, had been active on the dating scene. She had been involved with a “friend of a friend” and also a gentleman she had met through a dating website. Both relationships were sexually active. Dr Cummings explains more about the situation “She had started experiencing discomfort – discharge, and pain on urinating, which is why she had come to see me. They had never used condoms as, she explained “I never did with my husband. I was on the pill then, and I went through the menopause years ago – I thought there was no reason to”.”

Dr Cummings then ran some tests and had to deliver the unfortunate news to her that she was actually suffering from gonorrhoea, a sexually transmitted infection (STI). “She was upset, embarrassed, but also shocked. At her age she didn’t really think she had anything to worry about”. Many of Dr Cummings patients are respectable men and women in their 50s and 60s, recently single for the first time in potentially several years. He also notes that a typical patient is a newly sixty something woman who has returned from holiday where she has had an affair and contracted an STI, or middle aged men who have picked up an infection from an extramarital affair.

In addition, the Health Protection Agency has been warning about the rapidly increase in STIs among the slightly older generation. Latest figures published show that gonorrhoea is up 8% in a single year and 14% since 2001, and genital herpes has risen by 15% in the last year and an incredible 142% in ten years. Chlamydia infections have also increased by 9% in the past year, and by 138% in the past ten years.

If you are suffering from the common STI, herpes, Medical Specialists can help you.  We now offer the antiviral medication “Valtrex”, which can help in reducing the risk of spreading genital herpes. However, you must also use safe sex practices. This includes always wearing a condom made of latex and avoiding sexual contact when you have an outbreak or think you are about to get an outbreak.  Valtrex will not cure herpes, but will lessen the symptoms. It helps to slow the growth and spread of the herpes virus so that the body can fight off the infection.

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Justin Bieber recently have been given a years worth of condoms as a gift from NVo Condoms. 

So why the shipment of safety? NVo mailed the Bieb 365 condoms after hearing that his romance with teen Disney queen Selena Gomez is getting hot and heavy. An insider from the Bieber team recently said, “Justin’s been told straight up that if he’s having sex, he had better use protection.” 

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Viagra-popping seniors lead the pack for STDs

Even if you're past your prime and have a hard time getting an erection, you might still need to worry about unprotected sex, according to U.S. doctors.

In fact, they report in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the rate of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in older men taking erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra is twice as high as in their non-medicated peers.




In both groups, however, the numbers are swelling. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more than six new cases of STDs per 10,000 men over 40 in 2008, up almost 50 percent since 1996.
"Younger adults have far more STDs than older adults, but the rates are growing at far higher rates in older adults," said Dr. Anupam B. Jena of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who led the study.
While the reasons for this development aren't well understood, he said more divorces and better health might have conspired to boost sexual prowess and activity among graying heads.
The problem, however, is that older adults appear to flout safe sex practices. For instance, the researchers note, 50-year-olds are six times less likely to use a condom than men in their 20s.
"We are typically unaccustomed to practice safe sex over the age of 50, because the risk of pregnancy is eliminated," Jena told Reuters Health.

To test whether the introduction of Viagra in 1998 might explain some of the STD surge, Jena and colleagues examined insurance records for more than 1.4 million U.S. men over 40. The average age in the study was about 60 years.
The most commonly found STD was HIV, followed by chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea.
Among the few percent of men who had filled prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs, more than two in a thousand had been treated for an STD in the year before they got the drug.
A year later, the number dropped to half that, suggesting that Viagra and its chemical cousins didn't fuel STDs.

However, the risk of contracting an STD turned out to be more than twice as high in men taking erectile dysfunction drugs compared with those who didn't.
"These users have a different sexual risk profile than non-users," said Jena, adding that the data didn't reveal any good explanation.
In an editorial, Dr. Thomas Fekete, of Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, noted that it would have been valuable to know more about the frequency of sexual encounters, sexual partners and orientation.

He added that prevention strategies should still be directed at younger age groups, whose STD risk is at least 10 times higher than in middle-aged and older adults.
Still, he said, the authors remind us "that men older than 40 years remain sexually active, even if they need chemical assistance to do so. This study also serves as a reminder that sex after age 40 years is not necessarily safe."
Jena recommended that doctors take a few minutes to discuss safe sex with older men when they prescribe Viagra.
His advice? "Look, just realize that you are at higher risk for STDs, and try to be careful like you used to be 30 years ago."

SOURCE: www.annals.org/

Annals of Internal Medicine, online July 5, 2010.