By: Nigel Gould, Health Correspondent www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
28 May 2004
MORE than 2,600 teenagers have contacted sex disease clinics in Northern Ireland over the last four years, it can be revealed today.
And some 39 were under the age of 15.
The shock figures emerged in reply to a written House of Commons question from DUP MP, Iris Robinson.
And they also revealed that 21 girls aged 14 and under gave birth in the province between 2000 and 2002.
Overall, 3,000 teenagers under the age of 19 became mothers in the three-year period.
Health Minister Angela Smith revealed that no fewer than 2,671 teenagers under the age of 19 had visited Genito-Urinary Medicine (GUM) clinics over the last three years.
Of that total 1,872 were girls.
Figures refer to initial contacts in respect of a range of sexual disease including primary and secondary infectious syphilis, "uncomplicated" gonorrhoea and chlamydia.
Earlier in the year, the Department of Health said doctors across the province were dealing with a dramatic increase in sexually transmitted diseases across Northern Ireland.
Cases of chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhoea have soared over the last few years.
In addition, medics are still trying to curb an outbreak of syphilis which began three years ago.
In the 15 years up to 2001 only one to two new cases of infectious syphilis would have been recorded in Northern Ireland.
However, numbers have risen dramatically with more than 60 cases of infectious syphilis diagnosed since July 2001.
Latest figures show that cases of chlamydia have nearly doubled to 1,170 in just four years.
There were also 117 cases of gonorrhoea.
But even this does not show the true extent of the problem since the figures only represent cases detected at Genitourinary Medicine clinics.
During 2002, from which the latest figures are taken, there were 20 cases of syphilis detected at GUM clinics compared to none in 1998.
Recently, Mrs Robinson said more needed to be done to reduce the figures.
She said: "The increase is sexually transmitted diseases in Northern Ireland is marked.
"From a strategic planning point of view, more needs to be done in managing these diseases."
|
By: Pat Flanagan
The Mirror
02 June 2004
IRELAND has been rocked by a sex disease explosion - and many victims are not even aware they are affected.
There has been a 50 per cent jump in hepatitis B cases while the number of
sexually transmitted infections ranging from genital herpes to syphilis has
gone up eight per cent.
Worried doctors have repeated their plea to young people to practice safe
sex.
Dr Mary Cronin of the National Disease Surveillance Centre, which compiled
the figures for 2002, said: "I would urge those who are sexually active to
practice safe sex as most sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are
preventable.
"Many STIs have no signs or symptoms. More than seven out of 10 women
infected with chlamydia have no symptoms and may not realise they are
infected.
"The prevention message has never been more important as there is no cure
for HIV infection or AIDS."
The number of STIs recorded in 2002 is the highest reported in any year on
record and notified cases have been increasing steadily each year since
1994.
They went up by 157.1 per cent between 1994 and 2002 and by 370 per cent between 1989 and 2002.
The number of patients with candidiasis, genital herpes, infectious
hepatitis B, non-specific urethritis and syphilis all increased during 2002
compared to the previous year.
During 2002, 10,471 STIs were reported compared to 9,703 in 2001, a 7.9 per
cent increase. Dr Cronin, who is a specialist in public health medicine,
stressed the importance of early detection.
She said while the rise in cases reflected unsafe sexual practices, other
factors including the availability of more sophisticated testing methods and
professional awareness of STIs also contributed to the increases.
Dr Cronin added: "STIs are easily treated and cured if identified but early
diagnosis and treatment is important.
"If they are left untreated, irreversible complications including infertility and ectopic pregnancies can arise.
"Having another sexually transmitted infection also increases the risk of
transmission and acquisition of HIV infection.
"As in 2000 and 2001, there were large numbers of syphilis infections reported in 2002.
"This is against a low incidence of reported syphilis cases throughout the
1990s in Ireland.
"These figures reflect the outbreak of syphilis among men who had sex with
men in Dublin which peaked in 2001.
"The 2002 figures show a decrease in the reported numbers of cases of
gonorrhoea and syphilis among males.
"These decreases are likely to have been partly due to interventions put in
place at the time by the Eastern Regional Health Authority outbreak control
team in response to the problem."
The report revealed that 48 per cent (5,066) of all notified STI cases were
males during 2002, while 50.6 per cent (5,298) were females. There were no
details for one per cent of those affected.
|
