Sexually Transmitted Statistics

A syphilis warning on the BBC news today pointed out that diagnosed cases in England were up by 23% from 2004 figures to some 2807. That’s an astounding increase on the equivalen figure a decade ago when there were just 137 cases.

Dr Steve Taylor of the British Assocaition of Sexual Health in discussing this worrying problem points out that penicillin saves lives today whereas “in the old days” syphilis was a killer.

He points out that young people are not being educated about sexually transmitted diseases as well as they should, “the last big campaign regarding HIV was over 20 years ago…most 19 year-olds weren’t born.”

Most 19 year olds weren’t born over 20 years ago….? That’s statistical massage for you. Surely, NO 19 year olds were born over 20 years ago.

Anyway, he went on to say that we must ensure that UK government money earmarked for sexual health reaches the clinics treating people so that it can be treated early. One of the problems though is that the symptoms of most sexually transmitted diseases don’t appear immediately.

We must educate young people about their sexual health, about to how look after themselves and how to use condoms, he says.

Speaking of which, a new type of condom has hit the streets, figuratively speaking. This product should get around at least one of the complaints that reluctant condoms users have regarding the fiddly nature of implementing this form of contraception and disease protection.