More and more young people are getting chlamydia

Last year, 28,466 cases of chlamydia were recorded in Norway – a 6.6 per cent increase on the previous year, and the highest reported number ever, according to the Institute of Public Health (FHI).

This is stated in the FHI’s annual report on monitoring of sexually transmitted infections.

“The increased chlamydia numbers are probably due to a combination of the fact that more people are tested and that more people are actually infected,” says Senior Adviser Øivind Nilsen at the FHI.

A total of 386,978 people were tested for chlamydia in 2019, up by 6.3 per cent on the previous year. Nearly 60 per cent of those diagnosed were women, and 66 per cent of all cases were people under 25.

Worst in Oslo
The diagnosis rate has been highest in Oslo for the last three years, and the FHI describes the increase in the capital as “significant” over the last ten years.

While Oslo has 890 chlamydia cases per 100,000 population, Troms and Finnmark are just behind, with 701. In third place is Trøndelag, with 602 cases per 100,000 population.

Innlandet is at the opposite end of the scale, with only 362 cases.

Continued increase in gonorrhea
The number of registered cases of gonorrhea continues to increase, and last year 1,703 cases were registered – 44 more than in 2018.

“We are worried that the trend of a high number of gonorrhea cases will continue,” says Nilsen.

1,327 of last year’s cases involved men, of whom 970 men were infected by other men. This is a slight decrease from the previous year, when 1,017 men were infected by other men.

Gonorrhea cases among women have tripled over the last ten years, and for the first time more cases have been registered among heterosexual women than heterosexual men.

Fewer cases of HIV and syphilis
Registered cases of HIV fell by 10 per cent, from 191 cases in 2018 to 172 cases in 2019. The group most at risk is men who have sex with men, as well as heterosexual men traveling abroad and especially Southeast Asia.

Also the number of cases of syphilis continues to decline in Norway. In 2019, 206 cases of syphilis were registered – a reduction of almost 11 per cent. 192 of the cases concerned men.

“You are especially at risk of infection in larger cities or on holiday trips to big European cities. In this group, men with an immigrant background and who are HIV positive are particularly vulnerable to syphilis infection,” says Nilsen.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today