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Showing results for tags 'Sexually transmitted infections'.
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News ArticleCuts to sexual health clinics could make eliminating new HIV cases in England by 2030 “impossible”, politicians have warned. A report on HIV services in the capital by the London Assembly Health Committee showed there were 6,008 new case in England in 2023 – almost double the amount in 2019, when 3,859 people were diagnosed. Although much of the increase can be attributed to new testing in emergency departments, the figures show that even when these are excluded there has still been an increase over that period. Before that time, new cases had been falling. Labour’s Krupesh Hirani, chair of the committee, told The Independent it would be “impossible” to hit the 2030 targets if public health budgets, that support testing and public outreach programs to target at-risk groups, aren’t protected and continue to be cut. He said: “The importance of testing with HIV is well documented and well evidenced and the obvious outcome and benefit of testing is to make sure we identify people who may be living with HIV but also it will help if people know what their status is in terms of what action they can take.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 30 April 2025
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News Article
Trump officials to cut Planned Parenthood family planning funds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The reproductive health provider Planned Parenthood said the Trump administration would cut federal family planning funding as of Tuesday, affecting birth control, cancer screenings and other services for low-income people. Planned Parenthood said that nine of its affiliates received notice that funding would be withheld under a programme known as Title X, which has supported healthcare services for the poor since 1970. The Wall Street Journal reported last week the US Department of Health and Human Services planned an immediate freeze of $27.5m in family planning grants for groups including Planned Parenthood. Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, predicted that cancers would go undetected, access to birth control would be severely reduced, and sexually transmitted infections would increase as a result. “President Trump and Elon Musk are pushing their dangerous political agenda, stripping health care access from people nationwide, and not giving a second thought to the devastation they will cause,” McGill Johnson said in a statement. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 April 2025 -
News Article
Warning issued over ‘untreatable’ gonorrhoea amid rise in cases
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Health officials in England are raising concerns about a surge in antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea cases, warning that the sexually transmitted infection could become “untreatable” if the trend continues. Some infections have shown resistance to ceftriaxone, the primary antibiotic used. More alarmingly, some cases are classified as "extensively drug resistant" (XDR), meaning they don't respond to ceftriaxone or the secondary treatment. New data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reveals a concerning increase in resistant cases. Between January 2024 and March 2025, 17 cases of ceftriaxone-resistant gonorrhoea were reported, 13 in 2024 and four in the first three months of 2025. Dr Katy Sinka, consultant epidemiologist and head of the STI section at UKHSA, said: “Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, which could make it untreatable in future. “If left untreated, it can cause serious problems like pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 March 2025 -
Content ArticleThe public health grant is paid to local authorities from the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) budget. It is used to provide vital preventative services that help to support health. This includes smoking cessation, drug and alcohol services, children's health services and sexual health services, as well as broader public health support across local authorities and the NHS. Key points: The public health grant has been cut by 26% on a real-terms per person basis since 2015/16. Additional but time-limited funding for drug and alcohol treatment has been allocated to local authorities. Taking account of this additional spend leaves broader public health funding 21% lower on a real terms per person basis since 2015/16. Some of the largest reductions in spend over this period were for stop smoking services and tobacco control, falling by 45% in real terms, as well as drug and alcohol services for adults (17%) and sexual health services (29%). Poor health is strongly associated with living in socioeconomically deprived areas. A girl born today in the most deprived 10% of local areas is expected to live 19 fewer years in good health than a girl born in the least deprived. However, real-terms per person cuts to the grant have tended to be greater in more deprived areas. In Blackpool, ranked as the most deprived upper tier local authority in England, the cut to the grant (including new drug and alcohol treatment funding) has been one of the largest – at £33 in real terms per person since 2015/16. Local authority public health interventions funded by the grant provide excellent value for money, with each additional year of good health achieved in the population by public health interventions costing £3,800. This is three to four times lower than the cost resulting from NHS interventions of £13,500.
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News ArticleSexual health services in England are at breaking point, according to local councils who are responsible for running the clinics. They say that soaring rates of infections are threatening to overwhelm services and the government needs to provide extra funding. Since 2017, more than two-thirds of council areas saw infection climb. The Department of Health said more than £3.5bn has been allocated to local public health services this year. The Local Government Association (LGA) - representing the councils that provide sexual health clinics - is warning that demand is soaring and services are struggling to keep up. It is calling on the government to provide extra funding, as well as to publish a long-term plan to help prevent and treat sexually transmitted infections. Nearly three-quarters of councils have seen a rise in rates of syphilis cases, and chlamydia infections are up in more than a third of areas. Many of the new cases are younger people, and involve gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, but rates have also increased in heterosexual people. Experts believe there has been a rebound effect after the restrictions connected to Covid, but infections were rising well before the pandemic hit. There has also been a greater effort to test more people and improve access to services which may have led to more cases being identified. Read full story Source: BBC News, 20 January 2024
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News Article
NHS 'failing' patients living with HIV
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The failure to address the mental-health needs of people with HIV could lead to an increase in infections, a cross-party group of MPs suggests. People with HIV are twice as likely to experience mental-health difficulties. However, in those with depression, support raises adherence to medication by 83%. But most HIV clinics have no mental-health professionals on staff, which, the MPs say, could be reversing progress made over the past decade toward ending the epidemic in the UK. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on HIV and AIDS met with patients living with HIV at a range of hospital trusts throughout England, as well as numerous healthcare professionals. Unless serious mental-health treatment shortfalls are addressed, the government will fail to achieve its target of zero transmissions by 2030, its report says. Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 March 2020 -
News Article
Warning over antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea cases
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is warning about a small but significant rise in cases of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea. Most cases of the sexually transmitted infection (STI) can be treated quickly, but there's growing concern over strains that can't be dealt with so easily. Between June 2022 and May 2024, scientists working at the UKHSA identified 15 cases in England that were resistant to the antibiotic ceftriaxone, the first option drug used to treat the condition in the UK. That compares to just nine cases that had ever been found before 2022. If left untreated, gonorrhoea can cause major health issues, including problems with your pelvis and infertility. So far all cases found were picked by heterosexual people. Most were in their 20s and got the infection abroad. But some of the UKHSA's top epidemiologists say even though the numbers are small, they still need a major response. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 August 2024 -
News Article
Sexual health nurse failed to disclose test results
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A sexual health nurse who failed to tell patients and their partners of positive test results for sexually transmitted infections should be struck off, a professional hearing was told. David Allen made incorrect entries and omitted information when updating patient records, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) heard. Mr Allen, who worked at Wakefield Integrated Sexual Health Services, also posted abusive and inappropriate messages about colleagues online. The NMC found his actions could have resulted in a real risk of harm to patients and had been "a flagrant departure from the standards expected of a registered nurse". The NMC panel, which met earlier in July, heard the discrepancies dated back to 2018 and involved 18 cases. When a person has tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease, guidelines said any current or past sexual partners should be informed, which is called partner notification. The NMC panel found that on 18 occasions, Mr Allen had failed to complete the partner notification and had falsely indicated he had done so. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 July 2024 -
News Article
Gonorrhoea cases reach record high in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A record number of people in England were diagnosed with gonorrhoea last year, annual UK Health Security Agency figures show. Diagnoses rose 7.5% - from 79,268 in 2022 to 85,223 in 2023. Syphilis, meanwhile, rose 9.4% - from 8,693 to 9,513, the highest number since 1948 - with more heterosexual men and women becoming infected. Overall, sexually transmitted infection diagnoses, including several different STIs, rose 4.7%. The British Association of Sexual Health and HIV said the rise in STIs was a “concerning indicator” of pressure on sexual-health services and called for a new strategy. President Prof Matt Phillips said: “We find ourselves at a critical point for securing the viability of sexual-health services. “From recruitment challenges, to public-health funding, to ensuring the right experts are supporting every clinic, the next government has an opportunity to change the tides and address these barriers, to ensure everyone has timely access to expertise to support good sexual health and wellbeing.” Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 June 2024 -
News Article
Gonorrhoea cases rising quickly in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Gonorrhoea cases in England have resurged since the easing of Covid restrictions, health officials are warning people who are sexually active. The disease is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The infection is spread by unprotected vaginal, oral and anal sex. Symptoms can include a thick green or yellow discharge from sexual organs, pain when urinating and bleeding between periods, but some people will have no symptoms. Condoms can stop the spread of this and other sexually transmitted infections. Experts say people should practise safe sex and get tested regularly if they are having sex with new or casual partners. Testing is simple, free and discreet, they advise. Provisional data shows diagnoses in the first half of 2022 hit 56,327 - 21% higher than for the same period in 2019. An untreated infection can lead to infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease and can be passed on to a child during pregnancy. Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 March 2023 -
News ArticleBlack people have the highest rate of sexually transmitted infections in Britain and officials are not doing enough to address the issue, sexual health experts have warned. Black Britons have “disproportionally high rates” of various STI diagnoses compared to white Britons, with those of Black Caribbean heritage specifically having the highest rates for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, herpes and trichomoniasis. Experts have told The Independent that healthcare providers are failing to address these disparities in STIs. They have called for more research to fully understand the complicated reasons why STIs are higher among people of Black ethnicity. Research conducted through the Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) found that there were no clinical or behavioural factors explaining the disproportionately high rates of STI diagnoses among Black people. But higher rates of poverty and poor health literacy among marginalised communities are all linked with higher STI rates, according to a 2016 study, which found that behavioural and contextual factors are likely to be contributing. Moreover, experiences of racism among Black people can fuel a reluctance to engage with sexual health services and test frequently, according to HIV activist Susan Cole-Haley. She told The Independent: “I very much believe that it is linked to socioeconomic disadvantage and racism, often in healthcare settings, which can be a significant barrier for people accessing testing, for instance, and feeling comfortable engaging with care.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 February 2023
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News Article
Syphilis and gonorrhoea hit record levels in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Gonorrhoea cases hit record levels last year, while syphilis diagnosis reached the highest level since just after the Second World War, new figures show. New data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKSA) shows 8,692 cases of syphilis were recorded in 2022, the largest annual figures since 1948. Gonorrhoea cases hit a high of 82,592 last year - a 50% increase compared to 2021. This is the highest number in any one year since records began in 1918, according to the UKHSA. The public health authority said gonorrhoea cases are becoming “increasingly resistant” to antibiotics and are “at risk of becoming untreatable in the future.” Overall there was a 24% increase in sexually transmitted infection diagnoses in 2022 and local council leaders warned sexual health services are “at risk of breaking point” as demand rises alongside real-term cuts to funding. Read full story Source: The Independent, 7 June 2023 -
Content ArticleIn this opinion piece for The Guardian, Professor Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh discusses the global threat of monkeypox—a virus that causes fever, swollen lymph nodes and distinctive rashes on the face, palms, the soles of the feet and genitalia. The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the recent outbreak of monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. Professor Sridhar highlights the need to take a collaborative approach across borders to ensure the outbreak is brought under control. She outlines that the most effective strategy in preventing the virus spreading further is to protect the group most at risk from the virus—men who have sex with men (MSM)—through vaccination.
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News Article
‘Out of control’: rise in STDs, including 26% syphilis spike, sparks US alarm
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Sharply rising cases of some sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including a 26% rise in new syphilis infections reported last year, are prompting US health officials to call for new prevention and treatment efforts. “It is imperative that we ... work to rebuild, innovate, and expand (STD) prevention in the US,” said Leandro Mena of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a speech on Monday at a medical conference on sexually transmitted diseases. Infections rates for some STDs, including gonorrhoea and syphilis, have been rising for years in the US. Last year the rate of syphilis cases reached its highest since 1991 and the total number of cases hit its highest since 1948. HIV cases are also on the rise, up 16% last year. An international outbreak of monkeypox has further highlighted the nation’s worsening problem with diseases spread mostly through sex. David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, called the situation “out of control”. Officials are working on new approaches to the problem, such as home-test kits for some STDs that will make it easier for people to learn they are infected and to take steps to prevent spreading it to others, Mena said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 20 September 2022 -
News Article
Covid vaccine: HIV clinics to make confidential referrals
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
People living with HIV in England and Wales can now choose to have their Covid vaccine through specialist clinics, without notifying their GP. NHS England has updated its guidance for people not comfortable with sharing their status. Everyone with HIV should be in vaccine priority groups four or six, and offered a jab by mid-April at the latest. But campaigners worried stigma would cause some to miss out. The updated guidance, obtained by the i newspaper, follows the lead of NHS Wales which put the same measures in place last week. Head of leading HIV charity the Terrence Higgins Trust, Ian Green, said: "Some may be surprised to hear that a significant number of people living with HIV feel unable to talk to their GP about their HIV status, but this underlines how much stigma still surrounds the virus even in 2021." "This is great news and the right decision from the NHS as it means people living with HIV will be able to take up the potentially life-saving Covid-19 vaccine at their earliest opportunity. We are working towards a society where everyone living with HIV feels comfortable sharing their status with their doctor and other health professionals, but we're not there yet and we welcome this fast, pragmatic action." Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 February 2021 -
News ArticleThe prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and deaths from drug overdoses increased in the US over the past two years, showing the pandemic’s effect on public health. “Even in the face of a pandemic, 2.4 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhoea, and syphilis were reported,” the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. STDs declined during the early months of the pandemic in 2020 but then increased rapidly. Cases of gonorrhoea increased by 10% during 2020 compared with 2019. Cases of primary and secondary syphilis increased by 7% and congenital syphilis in newborns increased by 13%.2 New data suggest that primary and secondary syphilis—the most infectious stages of the disease—continued to increase during 2021, the CDC said. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s national centre for HIV, viral hepatitis, STD, and tuberculosis prevention, said, “The unrelenting momentum of the STD epidemic continued even as prevention services were disrupted.” His colleague, Leandro Mena, director of CDC’s division of STD prevention, said, “The pandemic increased awareness of a reality we’ve long known about STDs. Social and economic factors—such as poverty and health insurance status—create barriers, increase health risks, and often result in worse health outcomes for some people.” Another disturbing trend during the pandemic has been the increase of deaths from drug overdoses, especially among teenagers. Just over 100 000 Americans died of drug overdoses during the year to April 2021, according to the CDC’s national centre for health statistics—an increase of 28.5% from the previous year. Read full story Source: BMJ, 19 August 2022
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News Article
Non-compliant online STI tests put patients at risk, experts warn
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patients are being put at risk in the UK because very few sexually transmitted infection (STI) tests offered online meet official standards, experts have warned. The NHS provides free in-person tests for STIs via its network of sexual health and genitourinary medicine clinics. Patients can also order tests via the internet from both NHS-commissioned and private providers, a practice that has become increasingly popular during the pandemic. However, new research in the Sexually Transmitted Infections journal published by the BMJ found that few online STI test services meet national recommended standards, with independent sector providers the least likely to be compliant. Online tests involve the user ordering a kit and either self-sampling by posting the specimen for laboratory analysis, or self-testing by interpreting the test themselves. The research found that the commercial self-sample providers, which advertised to those with symptoms, did not differentiate by STI symptom severity, and eight – seven private and one NHS-commissioned provider – offered no advice on accessing preventive treatment after exposure to HIV as recommended. Self-test providers did not appear to offer any form of order of treatment for patients and five offered tests that were intended for professional use only. The research concluded: “Regulatory change is required to ensure that the standard of care received online meets national guidelines to protect patients and the wider population from the repercussions of underperforming or inappropriate tests." “If we do not act now, patients will continue to receive suboptimal care with potentially significant adverse personal, clinical and public health implications.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 12 April 2022 -
News Article
‘World-first’ gonorrhoea vaccine to be rolled out in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A vaccine for gonorrhoea will be rolled out in England as part of a world-first programme, officials have announced. The move, hailed as a “landmark moment for sexual health”, will aim to tackle rising levels of the sexually transmitted infection (STI). Gonorrhoea cases in England topped 85,000 in 2023, the highest since records began in 1918, with warnings over some strains being resistant to antibiotics. The vaccine is an existing jab, known as 4CMenB, that is used against the meningococcal B disease, a serious bacterial infection that can cause meningitis and sepsis. It is used in the routine childhood programme and given to babies at eight weeks, 16 weeks and one year. Dr Amanda Doyle, the national director for primary care and community services at NHS England, said: “The launch of a world-first routine vaccination for gonorrhoea is a huge step forward for sexual health and will be crucial in protecting individuals, helping to prevent the spread of infection and reduce the rising rates of antibiotic resistance strains of the bacteria.” Eligible patients will be identified and contacted in the coming weeks, with the jab offered through local authority-commissioned sexual health services from 1 August. At the appointment patients will also be offered jabs for mpox, human papillomavirus (HPV), and hepatitis A and B. Doyle added: “NHS teams across the country are now working hard to plan the rollout and ensure we hit the ground running, while the routine mpox vaccination programme builds on the vital progress the NHS has made in recent months in reaching as many eligible people as possible.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 21 May 2025 -
News Article
Syphilis and drug-resistant gonorrhoea increasing
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
New cases of the sexually transmitted infection syphilis have risen again in England, continuing a trend dating back to the early 2000s. While the overall number of people diagnosed with gonorrhoea has fallen, there has been a significant increase in the number of cases where the infection is drug resistant, new UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data, external shows. Health experts say this is a real concern, although the actual number of drug-resistant cases remains very low. The NHS recently announced the rollout of the world's first vaccine programme to protect against gonorrhoea, aimed principally at gay and bisexual men. The World Health Organisation describes antimicrobial resistance as an issue of global concern and one of the biggest threats to global health. It threatens our ability to treat common infections and to perform life-saving procedures, including chemotherapy for cancer, caesarean sections, hip replacements, organ transplants and other operations. Read full story Source: BBC News, 3 June 2025 -
News Article
'I'm in control of my sexual health' - UK gonorrhoea vaccine rollout begins
Patient_Safety_Learning posted a news article in News
Gonorrhoea vaccines will be widely available from today in sexual health clinics across the UK, in a bid to tackle record-breaking levels of infections. The jabs will first be offered to those at highest risk - mostly gay and bisexual men who have a history of multiple sexual partners or sexually transmitted infections. NHS England say the roll out is a world-first, and predict it could prevent as many as 100,000 cases, potentially saving the NHS almost £8m over the next decade. Read full story Source: BBC News online, 4 August 2025 -
News Article
AI designs antibiotics for gonorrhoea and MRSA superbugs
Mark Hughes posted a news article in News
Artificial intelligence has invented two new potential antibiotics that could kill drug-resistant gonorrhoea and MRSA, researchers have revealed. The drugs were designed atom-by-atom by the AI and killed the superbugs in laboratory and animal tests. The two compounds still need years of refinement and clinical trials before they could be prescribed. Researchers have previously used AI to trawl through thousands of known chemicals in an attempt to identify ones with potential to become new antibiotics. Now, the MIT team have gone one step further by using generative AI to design antibiotics in the first place for the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea and for potentially-deadly MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Read full article. Source: BBC News, 14 August 2025 -
News Article
Gonorrhoea vaccine rollout in Scotland begins
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A gonorrhoea vaccine rollout has begun in Scotland following a UK-wide rise in cases. The illness, which is the second most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in Scotland, is potentially painful and in rare cases can be life-threatening. The vaccine programme, which was introduced in England last month, will be offered to gay and bisexual men, trans women and anyone who's had a bacterial STI in the past two years. Speaking ahead of the rollout, Public Health Minister Jenny Minto said the campaign was "urgent and timely since the number of diagnoses has been high and the disease is becoming increasingly difficult to treat with antibiotics". Doctors and charities called for vaccinations earlier this year after the UK's joint committee on vaccination and immunisation (JCVI) recommended a targeted rollout in November 2023. The Scottish government is funding the vaccination programme. Minto said: "The science tells us that this vaccine will potentially protect thousands of people and prevent the spread of infection. "Anything which stops people from contracting gonorrhoea in the first place can have huge benefits, including ensuring our health system remains resilient by reducing the amount of treatment needed." Read full story Source: BBC News, 01 September 2025
