Greater Manchester town sees one of biggest increases in cases of ancient disease anywhere in UK

One borough of Greater Manchester has seen one of the biggest increases of an ancient disease anywhere in the country. Wigan had one of the biggest increases in the diagnoses rate of gonorrhoea, the ancient sexually transmitted infection.

Over two thirds of council areas have seen rates of gonorrhoea and syphilis increase since 2017 - new analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) reveals today, January 20 - as sexual health services reach breaking point, according to experts. Almost all (97 per cent) council areas have seen an increase in the diagnoses rate of gonorrhoea, with 10 local authorities seeing rates triple.

The biggest increases were seen in Wigan, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Torbay. The gonorrhoea diagnosis rate in Wigan per 100,000 people in 2017 stood at 28.6, more than quadrupling to 130.7 by 2022.

Between 2021 and 2022 alone, the figure in Wigan more than doubled from 53.1 to 130.27 people being diagnosed with gonorrhoea for every 100,000 people.

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The highest rate of diagnoses was in the London borough of Lambeth, with 1,221 cases per 100,000 people, with the top ten highest rates of diagnoses all being made up of inner London boroughs.

The LGA, which represent councils responsible for public health across England and Wales, is calling on the government to provide extra funding so local sexual health clinics can meet rising demand and publish a long-term plan to help prevent and treat sexually transmitted infections. New figures, collected by the Office of Health Disparities and published as a rate per 1,000 residents, on the LGA’s data platform, LG Inform, show that 71 per cent of areas have seen increases in cases