Europe is facing an unprecedented public health emergency. New data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control shows gonorrhoea cases have hit record levels, with a 48% increase in just one year. Sources confirm the numbers are worse than anything seen in the last decade. This isn't just a spike. This is a systematic failure.
The numbers are staggering. In 2023, over 175,000 confirmed cases of gonorrhoea were reported across the EU and EEA, breaking all previous records. The UK alone saw a 22% rise, with more than 82,000 diagnoses. But the real story is what's happening beneath the surface. The bacteria that causes gonorrhoea is getting smarter. Antimicrobial resistance is accelerating, and our frontline treatments are losing their edge. The World Health Organisation has warned for years that we're running out of options. Now, that warning is becoming reality.
I've been following the money on this one. The underfunding of sexual health services is criminal. Across Europe, clinics are closing, waiting times are ballooning, and prevention campaigns have been slashed. Governments have been cutting budgets while the numbers climb. It's a predictable disaster. In England, the number of sexual health clinics has dropped by 10% since 2019. In Spain, budget cuts have left some regions with only one clinic per million people. Meanwhile, the EU's investment in antibiotic research has been pitiful. We're spending billions on defence, but we can't afford to develop a new drug for a disease that's infecting hundreds of thousands?
But there's another layer to this crisis. These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. The real problem is that we're not testing enough. Many cases go undiagnosed because symptoms are often mild or non-existent. Untreated gonorrhoea can lead to infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease, and increase the risk of HIV transmission. And with drug-resistant strains emerging, those undiagnosed cases become time bombs.
I've spoken to doctors on the front line. They're terrified. One consultant at a London clinic told me, 'We're seeing patients who have failed multiple treatments. We're now using older, less effective drugs with serious side effects because we have no other choice.' The ECDC has confirmed that resistance to ceftriaxone, the last-line treatment, has doubled since 2021. This is not a distant threat. It's happening now.
The question is: who's accountable? The EU's new pharmaceutical legislation is stuck in committee. National health budgets are being slashed. And the pharma industry has little incentive to invest in antibiotics when chronic disease drugs are far more profitable. This is a market failure that kills.
But there's another story here that no one's talking about. The stigma, the cuts to sexual education, the political cowardice. In Italy, a far-right government has slashed funding for sexual health campaigns. In Poland, abortion and sexual health services are under attack. When politicians treat sexual health as a moral issue rather than a medical one, people die.
The ECDC is calling for 'urgent action' including better surveillance, increased testing, and new treatment guidelines. But that's not enough. We need a war on this bacteria like we've seen with HIV. We need a coordinated European strategy with real funding. We need to force pharmaceutical companies to prioritise antibiotic research. And we need to stop pretending this is just a problem for 'promiscuous' people.
Gonorrhoea doesn't care about your politics. It doesn't care about your budget. It adapts and spreads. And if we don't act now, the next headline won't be about record cases. It'll be about the first truly untreatable sexually transmitted infection. That's not a prediction. That's a countdown.
