The number of cases of the sexually-transmitted disease (STD) gonorrhoea has shot up over the past ten years increasing from 258 in 2003 to 841 in 2013, figures show.
Susan Cowan, a doctor responsible for monitoring gonorrhoea cases at the national serum institute, Statens Serum Institut, told Metroxpress newspaper that the development was “worrying”.
“In the 1980s there were lots of infected people and it could be happening again,” Cowan said. “We need to get it under control.”
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Unlike before, the STD no longer predominantly affects the homosexual community, but is swiftly gathering momentum among heterosexuals who have sex without using condoms.
In 2003, just 31 women were diagnosed with the disease – a number that soared to 239 last year.
It is particularly women under the age of 19 who are seeing a spike in cases. Last year, more teenage girls than teenage boys got the STD – a symptom of which is often a burning sensation during urination.
Cowan said that the biggest fear is that the number of cases continues to increase and that a strain of the STD that is resistant to treatment shows up in Denmark.
