A physician in sexual health says his STI clinic has patients 'out the door', owing to a rise in infections.
It comes as there has been a spike across the board in sexually transmitted infections - both in Ireland and elsewhere.
Dr Dominic Rowley, who is also medical director of LetsGetChecked, told Lunchtime Live they were expecting this.
"There's an obvious element to it, of course, because as restrictions have eased - in our specialty - we expected to a rise in all STIs.
"We're in the middle of a syphilis epidemic, actually would you believe, which is a very significant problem.
"So as restrictions eased and people got more comfortable with mixing, social mixing as well as sexual mixing, we would have expected to see this."
He says every STI is "exploding" in Ireland at the moment, with a similar picture across Europe.
"We did a study in Portlaoise in my STI clinic, which is out the door at the moment, we did a study looking at the first three months of our first lockdown back in March 2020 compared to the previous year.
"And we actually found a rise in certain STIs, like herpes and genital warts, during the lockdown when people were supposedly non-socially distancing [sic].
"There was a fair degree of mixing during lockdown as well".
But Dr Rowley says the high numbers being detected is really a good thing.
"You could also turn it on its head and say 'it's great that we're picking up on these infections' because they can cause serious problems if left untreated.
"There's two sides to the coin".
Common symptoms
Dr Rowley says there are some common signs people should watch out for.
"If you've any urinary symptoms, so any pain on peeing, any abnormal discharge, any pain or bleeding after sex or during sex - they'd be the most common signs of chlamydia.
"But each STI has its own, unique presenting features - but pain during intercourse, or pain after intercourse, abnormal bleeding and discharge or pain on peeing they'd be the most common for most STIs".
He says while most diseases are easy to get rid of, there is more resistance to antibiotics - particularly around gonorrhea.
"The problem is a lot of STIs - gonorrhea particularly - we're facing a world-wide problem with gonorrhea resistance to antibiotics.
"It used to be very easy; you used to take just four tablets all at once to get rid of chlamydia - now you've to take a week-long course of an antibiotic twice a day.
"Still quite simple to get rid of, but there is increasing resistance to all antibiotics".
And he says there should be no fears around STI screening.
"For chlamydia and gonorrhea it's remarkably simple: for men it's a pee in a pot, that's as simple as that.
"And of course they can use LetsGetChecked home testing if they don't want to attend a clinic for whatever reason - but clinics are entirely non-judgmental.
"And for chlamydia and gonorrhea for females it's a simple vaginal swab, which is actually now self-taken.
"The doctor or nurse doesn't even have to do it, if the patient can go to the bathroom and just do a self-taken swab".
