June 29 (CTK) – The number of syphilis and gonorrhoea patients has been rising in the Czech Republic in the past years and the tropical disease lymphogranuloma venerum, which appeared in the country for the first time in 2010, is also spreading, doctors told journalists yesterday.
The number of HIV-infected people has been rising in the long run, they added.
According to available data, the increasing numbers are mainly due to patients who are treated with sexual diseases repeatedly.
“Treating some men for a seventh or eighth time is no rarity,” Filip Rob, from the Prague Na Bulovce Dermatovenerological Clinic, said.
The number of syphilis patients has oscillated around the average of 730. The number of new cases rose from 437 in 2011 to 494 in 2016.
The number of infected rose mainly among men having sex with men. In 2006 they constituted for less than 10 percent of all syphilis patients, last year it was was almost 50 percent.
Since 2008, the number of patients having syphilis and being HIV positive at the same time has been markedly rising.
There is also a high incidence of the diseases transfer between bisexuals. Doctors ascribe this to their risky behaviour.
The number of gonorrhoea patients rose from 709 in 2010 to 1527 in 2016.
“This is due to that the diseases is already resistant to certain antibiotics now, but also better diagnosing methods,” Hana Zakoucka, from the National Institute of Public Health, said.
One person was diagnosed with lymphogranuloma venerum in 2008, but the number rose to 43 people last year.
The number of chlamydia infection case has been steeply rising. From 2010, it rose five-times to 2307 in 2016.
Rob said the trend has spread in Western Europe. Paradoxically, he said, the reason is a better treatment of HIV patients, who live longer and can pursue their sexual activities longer.
The situation also worsens due to the popular anonymous applications in which sexual partners can be sought.
Deputy Health Minister Lenka Teska Arnostova said the ministry has prepared an action plan for the prevention of sexually-transmitted diseases for 2018-20, she said.
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