Rates of gonorrhoea have “skyrocketed” in Ireland, a leading consultant in sexual health has said. 

Figures released earlier this week revealed Ireland had the highest rate across Europe in 2022, with 3,812 confirmed cases. 

Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) which is usually found in discharge from the penis or in vaginal fluid. 

Symptoms include green or yellow discharge from the vagina or penis, pain while urinating or bleeding in women in between periods. 

Some people who contract gonorrhoea do not exhibit any symptoms. 

Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show, Dr Aisling Loy said Ireland is not the only country to see an increase in infection rates. 

“It is across all the countries,” she said. 

“Internationally, we’re seeing a rise. 

“We are testing more people, so that is one element but when it’s teased out, there actually are more infections. 

“So, it isn’t just an increase in testing.” 

File photo of condoms. Image: Niall Carson/PA Archive/PA Images. Image: 15-04-2009

According to Dr Loy, the increase is not a new phenomenon and can be traced to before the pandemic.  

“It’s just skyrocketed now,” she said. 

“The figures from 2023 show a very significant increase.”

Notably, the number of young women diagnosed with gonorrhoea has proportionally increased at a greater rate than among men. 

“Before it was 16% of those infections were in women, mostly made up of the young 15-25 age group,” Dr Loy said. 

“Now it’s up to 23%, so there’s pieces of work being done to try and understand what is going on in that group.” 

Why?

Dr Loy believes the increase is being driven by a change in sexual behaviour. 

“There’s a huge amount of people having sex without condoms… Also, people are more sexually liberal, they’re taking more risks, they’re having more partners. 

“There’s more sort of, what I call, performative sex - with the pornification of young people, they’re sorted expected to do more things and perform a bit more and be a bit more risqué.” 

If you think you have an STI, you can book a test with the HSE here.

Main image: Man holding a condom.