Syphilis is on the rise for gay and bisexual men as STIs remain ‘consistently high’

New statistics revealed by Public Health England have led the governmental health arm to urge queer men to keep on the lookout for syphilis.

The report, which has collated STI diagnoses across England in 2017, has shown that men who have sex with men are the most likely to be at risk of the STI.

A staggering 78 percent of diagnoses of the infection affected queer men.

A stain of syphilis (Wikimedia)

There has also been a sharp spike in syphilis across the board, with 5,955 cases treated in 2016, and 7,137 accounted for in 2017.

Gonorrhoea is also of concern to the authority.

There was a 22 percent rise in cases of gonorrhoea in 2017 compared to 2016 (from 36,577 in 2016 to 44,676 in 2017) and a strain of super gonorrhoea which cannot be treated by antibiotics has made its way into the stats.

Gonorrhoea (Wikimedia)

The Terence Higgins Trust has said that the rates will continue to rise if the Department of Health continues to receive “damaging cuts” to its sexual health services.