It’s so important to practice safe sex(Picture: Getty Images)
We all know the importance of practising safe sex, but sometimes those good intentions go right out the window after a drink or five.
But even if you do everything right, there’s still some risk involved and as not all STIs are symptomatic, without regular testing, you might be carrying and spreading an infection without even knowing.
As such, it’s understandable that STIs are a major health problem in the UK – with diagnoses of Chlamydia and gonorrhoea at a 10-year high right now.
New research from nowpatient.com has revealed the top 10 cities for STIs in England, after comparing new infection rates in different local authority areas to see where the health risk is greatest for those having unprotected sex.
The research was separated into local authority areas in Greater London and those outside of London and also looked at the most common sexually transmitted infections overall.
The findings confirmed that London is the country’s overall STI capital, with a new diagnosis rate of more than twice that of any other region. This was closely followed by the North West in second place.
London areas with highest STI diagnosis rates
Southwark, 3,030.94 new diagnoses per 100,000 people
Hackney, 2,897.03 new diagnoses per 100,000 people
Lambeth was found to be the local authority area with the highest level of new STI diagnoses in London and in England as a whole, with 3,573.57 new diagnoses per 100,000 people.
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Interestingly, Bexley was the London borough with the lowest rate of STI diagnoses, with 491.19 new diagnoses per 100,000 people. However, compared to all local authorities in England, this is still slightly higher than most.
Outside of London, Lincoln had the highest rate of STI diagnoses with 1,974.98 new cases per 100,000 people.
It was also named England’s chlamydia capital, with 1,608.52 diagnoses per 100,000 people in 2022.
Meanwhile, it was the Isle of Scilly that had the lowest STI diagnoses rate in the country, where there were just five recorded new STI diagnoses in 2022.
Top 10 cities with highest STI rates outside of London
Liverpool, North West, 1,514.38 new diagnoses per 100,000 people
Manchester, North West, 1,403.47 new diagnoses per 100,000 people
Nottingham, East Midlands, 1,330.87 new diagnoses per 100,000 people
Exeter, South West, 1,191.74 new diagnoses per 100,000 people
Portsmouth, South East, 1,145.40 new diagnoses per 100,000 people
Brighton and Hove, South East, 1,140.65 new diagnoses per 100,000 people
Salford, North West, 1,060.70 new diagnoses per 100,000 people
Southampton, South East, 1,022.42 new diagnoses per 100,000 people
Norwich, East Anglia, 978.91 new diagnoses per 100,000 people
In terms of which STIs were being diagnosed in these hotspots, chlamydia was found to be the most common STI in England in 2022, accounting for just over half of all infections with more than 199,000 diagnoses
Lincoln and Nottingham made the top 10 areas with the highest rate of chlamydia diagnoses, suggesting a more widespread issue within the region.
Genital warts and genital herpes followed as third and fourth most common STIs, with 26,079 and 24,910 diagnoses respectively.
The least common was HIV, which saw 31,805 new diagnoses in 2022.
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