GREATER Manchester is in the grip of a syphilis outbreak, new figures have revealed.
The disease rate has shot up by a third in one year, while other sexually-transmitted infections are on the wane.
Health bosses are now seriously worried about the sharp rise in the potentially life-threatening disease, which has increased in the north west by 2,200 per cent in 10 years.
The latest figures from the Health Protection Agency North West for 2003-4 show that 200 new sexually- transmitted infections are diagnosed each working day.
Comfort
They show that 76,214 new sufferers were diagnosed in the region in 2004 - an increase of four per cent on the previous year.
In Greater Manchester chlamydia has dropped by seven per cent and gonorrhoea is down 17 per cent, but syphilis is up by 36 per cent, compared with 37 per cent nationally, with most cases in the 25 to 44 age range.
Professor Martyn Regan, the HPA's lead regional epidemiologist, said: "We can take some comfort from the fact that the safer sex message appears to be getting home, but it is also clear from the figures that far too many people are still taking unnecessary risks with their sexual health."
Around 80 per cent of syphilis cases are among Manchester's gay population.
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David Higson, Bury (14/07/2005 at 12:28)
Along with traditional large groups of sufferers like prostitutes and the armed forces, I feel that it is the promiscuity rather than the lack of "safe-sex" that causes the threat. Stick with one partner and avoid all the nasties!
Simple truth is often the most unpalatable.