Gonorrhea epidemic

last updated 8 January 2015

London

Sexually transmitted diseases are spreading with alarming speed across Britain due to a breakdown in services at health clinics, a parliamentary committee said this week. The rate of gonorrhea infection has risen 86 percent in just five years, one in 10 British women ages 18 to 25 has chlamydia, and even syphilis is making a comeback. Patients must wait at least two weeks for an appointment at the National Health Service’s sexual health clinics, and in that time they can pass diseases on to many more partners. “Frankly,” said David Hinchliffe, committee chairman, “the whole sexual health service is a shambles.”