A medieval disease is making a comeback across England - and our map shows the infections diagnosed near you. Cases of syphilis, the ancient sexually transmitted disease, increased by 15% to nearly 8,700 diagnoses last year - the largest annual number since 1948.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says cases of syphilis have fluctuated over the last 100 years, spiking after the 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, probably due to behavioural changes brought about by the emergence and awareness of the HIV virus and Aids.
But since the early 2000s syphilis - and gonorrhoea - have re-emerged as major public health concerns. A decade ago there were 3,000 cases of syphilis diagnosed in England, just over a third as many as last year, while the infection rate has trebled from 5.6 syphilis cases per 100,000 of the population in 2012 to 15.4 last year.
