Half of Scots syphilis cases in Lothians

MORE than half of Scotland's syphilis infections occur in the Lothians, new figures have shown.

Cases have dropped slightly from last year, but the high rate among gay men is causing concern to sexual health charities.

The statistics, released by Health Protection Scotland, revealed that there were a total of 79 transmissions of the infection last year. It is lower than previous years, but compared with the rest of the country results are poor.

Only a handful of people catching the disease were heterosexual.

It is the latest set of data which compounds the Lothians' reputation for being the sexually transmitted disease capital of Scotland.

Already rates of other infections such as genital warts and chlamydia are higher than elsewhere, while the area is still fighting a battle with HIV that has gone on since the 1980s.

In more detailed research by HPS, it appears nearly a third of gay men with the disease picked it up in a sauna, with a further 30 per cent catching it from men they met in bars and clubs.