Sexually transmitted diseases: a waste of military manpower.

Introduction The Ivery great increase in the incidence of the sexually transmitted diseases (STD)tJhroughout,the 1960s has been one of the most disaJppointing and unexpected medical .and social developments of our times. It had ,been hoped that with the advent of penic1llin and other antibiotics in the bte 1940s that the number of new pa,tients with these [nfections would have declined, and that these diseases would have ceased Ito bea major problem in 'countries with well organised medical ,services. There was a marked decrease in the incidence of many of these diseases in the early 1950s, probrubly as a result .of the widespread use of penicillins and other antibimics. However, !by ~he .latter part of the 1950s ,the tide had begun to turn, and since then ,there has lbeen a steady increase in the majority of !the diseases spread by sexual 'interoou~se in mast countries af the world. In Great Britain between 1959 and 1974 the number of calses aHending STD clinics more than doubled (Figure 1). There lW:as a 90 per cent increase in incidence of gonorrhaea and syphilis!. Ganorrhoea increased more than threefold ,between 1954 and 1972. Cases of gonarrhaea accurring in England and Wales were, in 1954'-17,500, 1961-37,100 and 1972-54,979. In nan-speoiJfic urethritis (NSU) there ,shawed a faurfold increase between 1952 and 1972, :the number of cases were 11,552 in 1952, 46,075 in 1970 and 48,550 in 1972.