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A record number of people in England were diagnosed with gonorrhoea last year, annual UK Health Security Agency figures show, external.

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.

Both have more than doubled in the past decade.

Overall, sexually transmitted infection diagnoses, including several different STIs, rose 4.7%.

Some of the rise may be due to an 8.3% increase in the number of people having STI screening - 4.6% up on 2019.

The groups with the highest proportion of people diagnosed with an STI were:

15-24-year-olds

men who have sex with men

black Caribbean people

The best way to avoid STIs was to use condoms “consistently and correctly” with new or casual sexual partners, the UKSHA said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4nnmgzkgm3o