Epidemiology of sexually transmitted infections: UK

The epidemiology of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the UK has shown remarkable changes during the 20th and 21st centuries. Diagnoses of syphilis and gonorrhoea peaked with the return of the armed forces after World War II, then again during the 1960s and 1970s in response to more relaxed attitudes to sexual behaviour. STI diagnoses fell sharply in the mid-1980s, coinciding with extensive media coverage of AIDS and associated national public health campaigns. However, this trend reversed in the mid-1990s, suggesting behavioural changes in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic were not sustained. Better service access and testing coverage, and improved testing technology, have also led to increased rates of STI diagnosis in the last decade.