The number of gonorrhoea diagnoses in England in 2023 hit its highest number for 105 years, according to the latest official figures.

The UK Health Security Agency said 85,000 cases of all gonorrhoea infections, not just antibiotic-resistant cases, were reported, the biggest number since records began in 1918. 

Between June 2022 and May 2024, 15 ceftriaxone-resistant gonorrhoea cases were found in England, including five the UKHSA said were “extensively drug-resistant to first and second-line treatment options and to other antibiotics”.

Thirty-one cases of ceftriaxone-resistant gonorrhoea have been discovered since 2015. The UKHSA, who said seven of those were “extensively drug-resistant”, revealed all the cases were among heterosexual individuals “mostly in their 20s” who had largely got infected abroad.

Despite insisting there has been “limited transmission within England,” the UKHSA said the “increasing number of cases in recent years is concerning as it increases the chance of wider spread and treatment challenges.”

“Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, risking the possibility of it becoming untreatable in the future,” said the UKHAS’s consultant microbiologist Dr Helen Fifer.

“Untreated gonorrhoea can lead to serious health issues, including pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. Condoms are the best defence, but if you didn’t use one with a recent new or casual partner, get tested to detect the infection and prevent onwards transmission.”