STIs Double Among People Over 45 — In Less Than 10 Years

I know you know that sex needs to be safe at any age and monogamy never goes out of style, but this is a pretty harsh reminder that there’s no age cutoff for STIs and STDs. Think you’re too old to buy condoms?

As a follow-up to Thursday’s shocking report of the crazy prevalence of genital herpes in the Big Apple, an article in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections states that folks over 45 have seen a major increase in STIs in an 8-year period, particularly genital warts, which comprised 45% of cases, and genital herpes, which comprised 19% of cases.

Researchers monitored the numbers of sexually transmitted infections (STI) diagnosed in 19 sexual health clinics and reported to the Health Protection Agency’s Regional Surveillance Unit in the West Midlands.

The period of analysis spanned eight years between 1996 and 2003 inclusive. In total, 4445 STI episodes were identified among people aged 45 and older during that time. Most of these were in straight men and women.

The most commonly diagnosed infection among the over 45s was genital warts, accounting for almost half (45%) of the episodes. Herpes was the next most common, accounting for almost one in five (19%).

Men and those between the ages of 55 and 59 were significantly more likely to have an STI than anyone else.

Among women, rates were highest among those aged 45 to 54; among men, rates were highest among those aged 55 to 60 plus.

Cases of Chlamydia, herpes, warts, gonorrhoea and syphilis all rose sharply. And the cumulative rate of infections more than doubled from 16.7 per 100, 000 of the population in 1996 to 36.3 per 100,000 of the population in 2003. Read More >>>

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Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

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