A map of local infections of a medieval sex disease making a return to England reveals that there were 62 diagnosed cases in Bristol in 2022 - a rate of 13.2 per 100,000 people. In North Somerset those figures were five and 2.3 respectively and, in South Gloucestershire, 17 and 5.8.
The medieval disease in question is syphilis - an ancient sexually transmitted disease - and diagnosed cases increased by 15% to nearly 8,700 last year - the largest number since 1948. The UK Health Security Agency says cases have fluctuated over the past 100 years, spiking after two world wars, but then declining in the late 1940s and 1950s due to effective treatment with penicillin, and greater availability of condoms.
It re-emerged in the 1960s but then fell into decline in the 1980s, likely due to behavioural changes brought about by the emergence and the awareness of the HIV virus and Aids. But, since the early 2000s, syphilis and gonorrhoea have re-emerged as major public health concerns.
