Gonorrhoea on the rise in Stockholm: report

A recipe of summer fun, a little sun, and unprotected sex have brought a spike in the number of cases of gonorrhoea in Stockholm, according to new statistics from the Stockholm Disease Control (Smittskydd Stockholm).

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While the numbers of chlamydia and syphilis cases hold a steady line, mid-year statistics reveal that the number of gonorrhoea cases in the capital are escalating.

”Gonorrhoea has gone up a bit in recent years. It has probably spread a bit more in the heterosexual and youth groups,” Björn Eriksson, a deputy medic with disease control centre, told newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN).

There have been 245 cases recorded so far this year, compared to 254 cases in total during 2009 and 430 in 2010.

The same reports show that more than 4,000 people have been infected with chlamydia to date this year. Last year totalled about 8,950, which is a likely total for 2011, said Eriksson.

”People go and get tested after the summer in September and then the numbers go up,” he added.

In a joint effort, Stockholm’s County Council teamed up with Vårdguiden, the Stockholm Health Care Guide, and the main hospital in Södermalm, Södersjukhuset, in March 2010 to launch a project for chlamydia home-tests.

A free test kit can be ordered online from Mina vårdkontakter, an e-service for healthcare requests. A simple test is then done at home and sent in for testing. A few days later, results are available on the Internet.

”What we see is that we can detect it better here, especially with young guys who might not otherwise have tested themselves without this chance,” spokesperson for the Health Board Management in Stockholm Hanna Holmquist Karlsson told DN.

About 250 people a week are conducting the home tests through Vårdguiden, with more than 16,000 people tested since the project began.

Of the administered tests, about six percent have been diagnosed with chlamydia.