Sexually transmitted diseases are a major public health problem, and the evolution graphs for almost a decade have shown us how they have not stopped growing year after year with a significant increase after the end of epidemic restrictions. However, the latest data in our table shows a much more positive picture with this growth slowing.
The report Prepared by the National Epidemiology Center of the Carlos III Health Institute shows a clear slowdown in the growth of these infections. But, unfortunately, this is not a victory, but we still have to see if we really face a lot of flatter curves to know how it evolves over time.
Statistics They noted that with closed data for 2025, 37,467 cases of gonorrhea were reported, virtually identical to 2024, when 37,457 cases were reported. And to put this recession into perspective, we see gonorrhea rates increasing at an annual rate of 36% between 2020 and 2023. It has now stabilized at a percentage change of 3.5% which is the profile of most men with an average age of 32 years.
Chlamydia, on the other hand, remains the most prevalent STI in our environment with 44,511 reported cases and an interannual increase of 2.9% compared to the 11% increase experienced the previous year.
There are some problems. Although everything looks pretty good on paper, we must know that the data integration is getting delayed. This means that epidemiological statistics are practically living entities that vary quite a bit, as happened in the previous report, which put gonorrhea cases at 37,527, but has now been revised to 37,457 cases.
The second important factor is geography, since, for example, the drop in lymphogranuloma venereum is not a national phenomenon, but local because it is associated with a decline that was registered in Catalonia, where cases went from 811 to just 484. This is not the same as what happened in Madrid, where cases have risen to around 20.
Internationally. Spain’s situation is a strange middle ground when we look at the external panorama, as historical records are being broken in Europe. Specifically, the latest loss includes 106,000 cases of gonorrhea, representing a 303% increase over last year.
On the other hand, the United States is facing the opposite situation, seeing cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis drop by 9%. And here we are already talking about something more consolidated, since this is the third year in a row where there has been such a decline.
The reason? The behavior of STIs has been the subject of intense debate in medical journals over the past five years, and what has become clear is that the decline in cases seen in 2020 was a mere mirage due to confinement and lack of screening. But the most important thing is that, looking at this panorama, Spain is recovering itself with the research of new tools such as, for example, DoxyPEP, which is a post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent the contraction of bacterial STIs.
HIV It is also seeing its incidence slow for the implementation of universal antiretroviral treatment and the deployment of PrEP, which have been decisive in stopping community transmission. Our problem is that it is being diagnosed late and it both means that the person does not know the true state of their health and it increases the development of illness or opportunistic infections.
Picture | Cottonbrough Studio
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