Sexually transmitted diseases. “They grow in most of the world”, notes the director general of the Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus agency of the World Health Organization (WHO). “New syphilis cases among adults aged 15 to 49 increased by nearly 1 million in 2022, reaching 8 million. And there were 230,000 syphilis-related deaths. The highest increases occurred in the Americas and Africa regions”. The report lists the “sharp increase” in sexually transmitted infections among the challenges, along with those posed in particular by HIV for which a “decline” is observed insufficient number of new infections” and by the numbers of viral hepatitis which continue to be sustained. And then there are the ‘superbugs’: “The new data also shows an increase in multidrug-resistant gonorrhea“, highlights the WHO DG.
In 2023, out of 87 countries where enhanced surveillance of gonorrhea antimicrobial resistance was conducted, 9 reported high levels (5 to 40%) of resistance to the last line of treatment for gonorrhea, the report summarizes. , ceftriaxone. The WHO is monitoring the situation and, explains DG Tedros, “has updated the recommended treatment to reduce the spread of this strain of multidrug-resistant gonorrhea”.
In general, the note continues, “globally HIV, viral hepatitis epidemics and sexually transmitted infections continue to represent significant public health challenges, causing 2.5 million deaths every year”, according to the WHO report.
In detail, the document notes that 4 treatable sexually transmitted diseases, namely syphilis (Treponema pallidum), gonorrhea (Neisseria gonorrhoeae), chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis) and trichomoniasis (Trichomonas vaginalis), represent over 1 million infections per day. The report notes an increase in adult and maternal syphilis (1.1 million) and associated congenital syphilis (523 cases per 100,000 live births per year) during the Covid pandemic.
Around 1.2 million new cases of hepatitis B and almost 1 million new cases of hepatitis C were then recorded in 2022. The estimated number of deaths from viral hepatitis increased from 1.1 million in 2019 to 1.3 million in 2022, despite effective prevention, diagnosis and treatment tools, reports the WHO.
As for HIV, new infections “reduced only from 1.5 million in 2020 to 1.3 million in 2022”, the report finally notes. Deaths linked to this virus “continue to be high”: in 2022 there were “630 thousand HIV-related deaths, 13% of which were among children under the age of 15”.
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