How to avoid Spread of STIs

Selfishness and delays spread STIs

People with sexually transmitted infections are waiting too long for treatment – and spreading disease as a result.

The ‘avoidable’ delays mean 44.8 per cent of men and 58 per cent of women with STIs continue to have sex before treatment, research shows.

Seven per cent of patients have sex with more than one person, while 4.2 per cent have unprotected sex with a new partner.

Patients who visit their GPs are more likely to wait for treatment than those who go straight to a genitourinary medicine clinic.

About a quarter of the 3,184 patients questioned went to their GP first – a much higher proportion than expected.

Doctors said more walk-in clinics were needed and youngsters should be educated to avoid sex as soon as they think they have an STI.

Dr Jackie Cassell, who carried out the research at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, said: ‘It takes longer for people who visit GPs to get treatment and sometimes they won’t call the clinic at all, and drop out of the system.’

Will Nutland, of HIV and Aids charity the Terrence Higgins Trust, said: ‘If we are going to tackle poor sexual health in the UK, prevention and treatment need to go hand in hand – the faster we move on treating STIs, the more likely it is we’ll prevent them being passed on.’

Between 2004 and 2005, the number of sex infections diagnosed rose three per cent to 790,387.

The biggest increase was in the number of syphilis cases, but chlamydia, Genital Warts and herpes also increased.

But the Department of Health said: ‘In the last year we have seen considerable improvement in access to services nationally.

‘In May, 83 per cent of patients were offered a genitourinary medicine appointment within 48 hours.’

source: metro.co.uk