Figures reveal rising number of new STD diagnoses in Northern Trust area

The figures, provided by the Trust through a freedom of information request, would also indicate that the number of people reported to have contracted these sexually transmitted diseases has increased by 23 per cent since 2013.

In total 2,744 people were identified as new sufferers of one of the STDs listed in the last five years, with genital warts and chlamydia making up the lion’s share of that number with 8 new patients reporting with them, on average each week.

And, as some might expect, the STDs we asked about were more rife between the ages of 18-34, with 80.6% of new diagnoses during the last year coming from this age group.

Perhaps more surprising was the fact that 69 people over the age of 51 were found to be suffering from an STD, with genital warts making up the majority of those identified.

Whilst one new case of HIV was identified within this age group in 2010 - but none in subsequent years.

And cases of gonorrhea, which made up 6% of the STDs researched, practically doubled in number between 2012 and 2013 - from 27 to 49.

But more worrying still, instead of decreasing since 2010, when 534 people reported with one of these conditions, the number of people to have caught them has steadily increased year-on-year, with the exception of a 2.9% dip between 2012 to 2013.

In the Northern Trust in the last five years, 12 new HIV diagnoses have been made, but no new patients were reported to have contracted AIDs - and thankfully nobody died from either condition according to the figures.

In the area covered by the Southern Trust, less people were reported to have contracted one of the sexually transmitted diseases we looked into over the past five years, with 2,684 new diagnoses made in the Trust.