Clinics are diagnosing a new STI ever 70 seconds in England with cases soaring among gay and bi men. Sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) and the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) say syphilis is now at its highest level since World War Two.
Gay and bisexual men are particularly impacted by STIs. They account for 75% of all new cases of syphilis in 2018. At the same time, the government has slashed spending on sexual health services by a quarter since 2014.