Director of Public Health Annual Report 2011 - NHS North Somerset

Director of Public Health Annual Report 2011
The level of testing in 2010/11 in young
people aged 15-24 in North Somerset (24.5%)
was higher than the South West average
(20.9%) but slightly lower than the national
average (25.2%). North Somerset has the
second highest proportion of chlamydia tests
that are positive in the country in this age
group (8.9% compared to 5.2% in England).
About two thirds of partners of those with
chlamydia will also be infected. The process of
informing partners so that they can get tested
and treated is called partner notification.
Some local services, including the Weston
Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) Centre and
the Avon Chlamydia Screening Programme,
which processes about half of all tests in
North Somerset, have high levels of partner
notification. But the level of partner
notification in other settings, including GP
practices, is unknown.
A challenge for North Somerset is to increase
the numbers of men tested for chlamydia.
North Somerset has the second lowest
proportion of men (17.7%) aged 15-24 tested
for chlamydia of any area in England.
Information is needed about where in North
Somerset testing is low and infection rates
high so that services can be focused in
geographical areas of highest need.
Other Sexually
Transmitted Infections
There are many other sexually transmitted
infections apart from chlamydia. After
chlamydia, the three most commonly
diagnosed infections in North Somerset
patients attending genito-urinary medicine
(GUM) clinics, which are specialist sexual
health clinics such as the Weston Integrated
Sexual Health (WISH) Centre in Weston-super-
Mare, are genital warts, herpes and
gonorrhoea.
Gonorrhoea is also caused by bacteria and like
chlamydia can result in pelvic inflammatory
disease, pain and infertility. Genital warts are
caused by a virus, and infection increases the
risk of cervical cancer. Herpes is also caused by
a virus, and those infected sometimes
experience mild or no symptoms.
The number of warts and herpes infections
diagnosed in North Somerset patients
attending genito-urinary medicine clinics
increased between 2009 and 2010 although
gonorrhoea cases fell (see Table 2). Many of
these infections are also diagnosed in other
health care settings such as GP practices, so
the true figure will be higher. The number
diagnosed in other settings is unknown.
Table 2: Number and rate of warts, herpes and gonorrhoea in North Somerset and England
(2009 and 2010)
2009 2010
North Somerset England North Somerset England
Number
Rate per
100,000
Rate per
100,000
Number
Rate per
100,000
Rate per
100,000
Warts 202 96.6 144.3 240 141.5 141.7
Herpes 128 61.2 48.4 140 67.0 52.9
Gonorrhoea 43 20.6 27.8 16 7.7 28.0
Source: Health Protection Agency. Genito-Urinary Medicine Clinic Activity Dataset (GUMCAD)
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