Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cases of (a) herpes, (b) chlamydia, (c) HIV, (d) syphilis and (e) gonorrhoea were diagnosed in people of each age group in each constituent region of the UK in each of the last five years.

While Public Health England (PHE) produces United Kingdom data tables for chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis (primary, secondary and early latent), data for each of the constituent regions is held by respective devolved administrations. The data for England for these infections are presented in tables 1-4 for the most recent five complete calendar years (2010-2014).

Data on new HIV diagnoses for the constituent regions of the UK are held by PHE and Tables 5-8 present data for the years 2010-2014 by constituent region, age group and year of diagnosis.

The data provided relates to the number of diagnoses rather than incidence of infection, and as such an increase in the number of diagnoses could be attributable to increased testing rates rather than an increase in infections. For example, local authorities are encouraged to offer universal access to testing and treatment for chlamydia for young people age 15-24 as part of the National Chlamydia Screening Programme. Increases in chlamdyia screening provision will result in increasing infections detected.

Table 1: Anogenital herpes (first episode) diagnoses numbers in England by age group, 2010-14

[1] The Genitourinary Medicine Clinic Activity Dataset v2 (GUMCADv2) collects information on all STI diagnoses and services provided by GUM services in England. Data are published annually and provide information on trends in STI diagnoses and the provision of GUM services. Please see the following link for further information:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sexually-transmitted-infections-stis-annual-data-tables

Chlamydia data for England are sourced from GUM service GUMCADv2 returns & data from community services. Data from community services are sourced from the National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) & Non-NCSP/Non-GUM services for 2010-2011 & only include those aged 15-24. Community services’ data from 2012 onwards are sourced from the Chlamydia Testing Activity Dataset (CTAD) & include all ages. Therefore community services’ chlamydia data from 2012 onwards are not comparable to data from previous years. Chlamydia diagnoses from GUM services that were reported as ‘previously diagnosed at another service’ are excluded from data from 2012 onwards. These diagnoses have been reported via CTAD & are already included in the community services’ data. Chlamydia testing and diagnosis data for 15-24 year olds who are resident in England is published quarterly and annually (calendar year) on the National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) website: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-chlamydia-screening-programme-ncsp-data-tables

Table 2: Chlamydia diagnoses numbers in England by age group, 2012-14

Note: Data from 2012 onwards are not comparable to data from previous years

Table 3: Syphilis diagnoses numbers (primary, secondary and early latent) in England by age group, 2010-14

Table 4: Gonorrhoea diagnoses numbers in England by age group, 2010-14

Table 5: HIV diagnoses numbers in England by age group and year, 2010-14

Table 6: HIV diagnoses numbers in Wales by age group and year, 2010-14

Table 7: HIV diagnoses numbers in Northern Ireland by age group and year, 2010-14

Table 8: HIV diagnoses numbers in Scotland by age group and year, 2010-14

[2]

[2] Age group data presented in tables 1-4 are consistent with the Annual STI publication: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sexually-transmitted-infections-stis-annual-data-tables. Age group category ‘65+’ includes those aged 65-99 only. Age group category ‘other’ includes those aged 0-12 & those with an unknown age.

Data in tables 5-8 may change as further reports of HIV are received, at present data contains reports to the end of June 2015. Data include individuals who have an existing infection as well as those who have a newly acquired infection and therefore the data do not present incidence of infection. Areas presented reflect region of diagnosis, not of residence.