England’s gonorrhea hotspots are all in London, MailOnline can reveal today after cases of the STD hit an all-time high.
Lambeth, a borough in the south of the capital covering all of Brixton and parts of Clapham, topped the charts.
About 1.2 percent of people living there tested positive for “the clap” by 2022, data shows.
Both the City of London and Southwark also saw more than 1,000 cases diagnosed for every 100,000 residents – the equivalent of one in 100 people.
Hot spots outside London were Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham.
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There were 82,592 positive tests for gonorrhea nationwide, an increase of 50.3 percent from 2021 and the highest number since records began in 1918.
Labs also detected 8,692 cases of syphilis, the most since 1948.
The UK Health Security Agency said the surge in STIs “strongly suggests” there is more transmission, although part of the increase is due to more testing.
Pandemic rules banned people from different households from mixing and forced bars and nightclubs to temporarily close. Health officials believe this was followed by an increase in people having condomless sex with new or casual partners.
Lambeth recorded the highest gonorrhea rate in the nation last year, with 1,220 cases per 100,000 people.
It was followed by the City of London (1,148) and Southwark (1,016).
Westminster, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Islington, Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Kensington and Chelsea rounded out the top 10.
Large cities such as Liverpool and Manchester had the second highest gonorrhea rates, with 312 and 308 cases per 100,000 people respectively.
At the other end of the scale, North Norfolk in the east of England recorded one of the lowest rates of gonorrhea in the country.
Only 22 cases per 100,000 people were noted in the area – a rate 55 times lower than in the hardest hit parts of London.
New UK Health Security Agency data shows gonorrhea diagnoses reached 82,592 in 2022, the highest number since records began in 1918
Labs also detected 8,692 cases of syphilis, the most since 1948
UKHSA data shows STDs chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis have experienced a post-Covid boom with diagnoses soaring by 2022. Syphilis diagnoses (purple line) have a separate Y-axis on the right side compared to other STDs
Data suggests that, overall, Britons aged between 15 and 24 were most likely to test positive for an STI. Gonorrhea diagnoses are listed here broken down by age group
Similarly, low rates were recorded in the Mid Suffolk Babergh district and the East Suffolk region, each with just 25 per 100,000 people.
Zero cases were recorded in the Isles of Scilly.
In all 296 local areas in England, 31 were found to have worsening gonorrhea rates compared to the previous five years’ data.
Only 14 saw an improvement.
The rest saw no significant change, positive or negative, in the overall trend.
However, these official figures are only based on people who have actually registered for an STI test.
This means that many other cases, where people have the STI but don’t seek a test, could be missed and not included in the data.
Gonorrhea is caused by an infection of the sexually transmitted bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae and is treated with antibiotics.
Experts are also concerned about the emergence of “super gonorrhea,” which is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics and in danger of becoming essentially untreatable.
If treated early, gonorrhea is likely to go away without any long-term problems.
However, if left untreated, it can cause a range of health problems, including infertility and, in rare cases, lead to a life-threatening infection if it reaches the bloodstream.
Gonorrhea was highest among 15- to 24-year-olds, according to UK Health Security Agency data. Rates among this age group will have increased by 26.5 percent in 2022.
UK health authorities have also warned that cases of the dangerous STD syphilis are on the rise.
Diagnoses for Victorian-era STIs rose last year to their highest recorded level since 1948, with 8,692 infections.
This was 15.2 percent higher than in 2021, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) revealed.
Chlamydia cases also rose by nearly a quarter in a year, with 199,233 diagnoses recorded.
UKHSA data also suggested that men who have sex with men and people from some black ethnicities last year were also more likely to test positive for an STI.
As a group, men who have sex with men saw gonorrhea cases increase by 41.3 percent, syphilis by 12.9 percent and chlamydia by 25.3 percent compared to last year.
UKHSA said there was evidence of an ‘upsurge’ in sexual mixing in this group after the pandemic and this likely contributed to the rise.
Officials warned people of all ages and backgrounds who have sex with new or casual partners to wear a condom and get tested regularly.
Charities and local government representative groups, which hire local sexual health services, have argued that more needs to be done to halt rising STI rates.