Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) do not stop growing, as health professionals have been warning for years. Especially the gonococcal infection, which has not stopped rising since 2001, and has multiplied its incidence by 25. But this growth is not equal in all territories. Catalonia is the region with the highest rate of gonorrhea in all of Spain, 2.5 times higher than the average.
This is also the case in chlamydia infection, which in Spain as a whole has increased by 245% since 2016, and post-syphilis infections (Catalonia is the third), which have multiplied by 20 since 2001.
This is indicated by the report Epidemiological surveillance of sexually transmitted infections in Spain 2022, prepared by the National Center of Epidemiology and the Cyber of Infectious Diseases of the Carlos III Health Institute, and which highlights the continued increase in 'incidence due to gonococcal infection: in 2001 the rate barely exceeded 2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, while in 2022 49 were reported.
The highest rates were recorded in Catalonia (121.88 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), the Basque Country (63.82), Madrid (58.89) and the Balearic Islands (48.61). The lowest were reported in Melilla (4.83) and Extremadura (6.94).
By age, the highest rates affected the 20 to 34 group. By sex, the rates in men were higher than those in women in all age groups.
In 2022 Spain suffered the highest rate of syphilis since 1995, the year in which the infection was subjected to epidemiological surveillance. In 2022, 8,141 cases of syphilis were reported; 17.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The communities that reported the highest rates were the Canary Islands (33.47), Madrid (25.93), and Catalonia (24.75).
As with gonococcal infection, rates were higher in men (31.32) than in women (3.73), and the age group with the highest rates was 25 to 34 years old.
As for Chlamydia trachomatis infection, which began to be monitored in 2016, the report notes that rates have increased greatly. In 2022, 26,518 cases of chlamydia infection were reported, with a rate of 62.38 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest since 2016.
Women are the most affected with the highest rates between 20 and 24 years (409.93) and between 15 and 19 (201.82). In the case of men, the highest rates were between the ages of 20 and 34.
What are these increases due to? Because young people are using condoms less and less, and those who are using them are not doing it the right way. The condom is not just a contraceptive method, it is a vital tool to prevent STIs. The Fórum d'Experts en ITS (Fexits) asks to recover awareness campaigns like those launched in the nineties, which said: "Put it on, put it on", to slow down what they already consider a full-blown epidemic.
