Sexual health: Data shows syphilis rates rise across South Tyneside with 500% increase one year

New data has shown the rate of infection of Syphilis and gonorrhoea in South Tyneside has risen drastically as part of a wider UK trend which has shown STI numbers hit record levels across England.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) revealed on June 6 how syphilis and gonorrhoea cases had surged to record levels in England last year. Gonorrhoea diagnoses in 2022 were the highest since records began in 1918, with cases rising from 54,961 in 2021 to 82,592 in 2022, an increase of 50.3%, while syphilis diagnoses were also the highest since 1948, with figures jumping from 7,543 in 2021 to 8,692 in 2022, an increase of 15.2%.

Locally, this has also been seen across South Tyneside with syphilis rates rising by a staggering 500%. There were only two confirmed cases of the STI per 100,00 residents in 2021 with levels rising exponentially to 12.2 cases per 100,000 people.

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Likewise, cases of Gonorrhoea have also risen across the region with 145 confirmed cases in 2022. This has resulted in a 154% rise from 2021 figures. The most recent data gives South Tyneside a Gonorrhoea diagnostic rate of 98 cases per 100,000 residents.

West Lindsey in Lincolnshire has seen the greatest increase between 2021 and 2022 with syphilis infection rates rising 800% from one case per 100,000 people in 2021 to 9.4 per 100,000 people in 2022. London had England’s highest rates of syphilis and gonorrhoea last year, with Lambeth the worst affected local authority in the country for both infections, analysis of official health figures shows.