Gonorrhea and syphilis are on the rise.

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) continue to be rampant, especially among young men: 36,983 cases of chlamydia were diagnosed last year, up 20.7% from two years earlier, and 34,401 cases of gonorrhea, up 42.6 % more, and 10,879 cases of syphilis, an increase of 24.1%.

These are some of the data presented in the annual report “Epidemiological Surveillance of STIs”, just published by the Carlos III Institute of Health, in which the increasing trend in the incidence of syphilis, congenital syphilis, gonococcal infection (gonorrhea), chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis) continues. ) and lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) over the past two decades.

In all of them, there is a predominance of men over women: 80% of cases of gonorrhea occur in men, who also have 88% of cases of syphilis, 98% of LGV and 53% of chlamydia.

There were differences by age by disease, with chlamydia being the most common infection in those under 25 years of age and LGV the least common.

Since 2001, when the incidence was 2.04, gonorrhea has continued to rise until it reached 71.54 in 2023, with 34,401 cases detected, an increase of 42.1% from 2021.

Also here, the indicators are significantly higher for men (116.84 and 28.01, respectively) and by age, the most affected group was 20-24 years old (265.68), followed by the group 25-34 years old (242.94). In fact, eight out of ten positive cases were men. The average age at diagnosis was 31 years, with slightly lower age (26 years versus 32).

Most infections in men occurred between the ages of 25 and 34 years (401.93 cases per 100,000), followed by the 20-24 year group (355.60 cases per 100,000). Their highest rates were observed at the ages of 20 to 24 years (170.20) and from 25 to 34 years (80.06).

With many differences depending on the community: Catalonia reached 165.3, followed by Madrid (94.08); Basque Country (78.37) and Andalusia (58.64). The lowest rates were recorded in Ceuta (1.20), Melilla (2.34), Aragon (9.24), Castile and Leon (12.59) and Extremadura (16.12).

The year 2023 ended with 10,879 cases of syphilis, raising the rate to 22.62, representing a 24.1% change from 2021. 88.1% were men, who registered a rate of 40.66 compared to 2021. 5.27 for women; here the average age was 37 years with no significant differences by gender (37 years for women, 34 years for men).

Six out of every ten people with syphilis were aged 25 to 44 years, with the group with the highest incidence being 25 to 34 (64.97). On the other hand, the Canary Islands (53.91), the Balearic Islands (33.97), Madrid. (32.52) and Catalonia (30.54) were the communities with the highest incidence rates, in contrast to La Rioja (2.17), Castile-La Mancha (3.36) and Aragon (6.11).

Also, seven cases of early congenital syphilis were identified in children under two years of age (five boys and two girls), all of them diagnosed in the first months of life. Thus, the incidence rate of confirmed cases has decreased from 0.75 in 2000 to 2.23 per 100,000 live births.

Equal Affection

For chlamydia, a later-reported STI (2015), there were 36,983 cases reported with an annual percentage change (APC) of 20.7% since 2016. The incidence was 78.9, with higher rates in men ( 85.97) than in women (72.09). By age, the highest rates are observed at the ages of 20 to 24 years (387.72) and from 25 to 34 years (258.34). Slightly less than half (46.6%) are women.

The mean age at diagnosis was 28 years, although they were younger (24 vs. 31). Most cases occurred between the ages of 25–34 years (36.4%) and 20–24 years (25.6%), with 9.9% occurring in the 15–19 age group.

Regarding the division by community, the highest rates were in Catalonia (194.56), Navarre (124.97), Basque Country (102.78) and Madrid (85.97); At the other extreme are Melilla (1.17), Aragon (5.52), Castile and Leon (13.26) and Castilla-La Mancha (13.82). Ceuta reported no cases.

The 16 communities monitoring LGV reported 1,807 cases with an incidence rate of 4.32. 98.3% were men, mean age 37 years; The worst affected group was people aged 25 to 44 with a score of 26.08, ahead of the group aged 35 to 44 (20.93).

Catalonia was the community with the largest number of LGVs, followed by Madrid, Navarre and the Basque Country. On the other hand, Cantabria, Castile-La Mancha, Ceuta and Melilla did not report any cases.