“Untreated, these infections can cause severe complications, such as chronic pain and infertility and, in the case of syphilis, problems with the heart or nervous system,” said Bruno Ciancio, an expert in transmitted and vaccine-preventable diseases at ECDC.
Europe is struggling to bring sexually transmitted infections under control, with numbers rising over the last 10 years. This has been in part due to improvements in testing and surveillance, but also changes in sexual behaviors, with young people making more risky choices, such as not using condoms.
The numbers also revealed that infections among men who have sex with men account for more than half of all gonorrhea and syphilis cases.
Surging syphilis cases are also associated with an increase in cases of congenital syphilis, when the infection is passed from a pregnant mother to the newborn. Untreated infections pose severe, life-threatening risks, including miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth and newborn death.
This is “probably one of the most concerning findings of the 2024 data,” said Otilia Mårdh, scientific officer of HIV, sexually transmitted infections and viral hepatitis at ECDC.
Cases have nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024, from 78 cases to 140, reaching the highest recorded rate in Europe since the ECDC started STIs surveillance.
Chlamydia, while it remains the most common STI in the region, has continued its slight downward trend, with over 213,000 confirmed cases in 2024, down from nearly 231,000 in 2023.
The ECDC warns that targeted action is “urgently needed” to prevent further spread of these infections. “Without decisive action, current trends are likely to continue, increasing negative health consequences and widening inequalities in access to care,” it writes.