Gonorrhoea in young heterosexuals attending urban STD clinics in Britain: a cross-sectional survey

Young people in the UK bear the brunt of sexually transmitted infections, in particular of gonorrhoea. We aimed to assess whether young people with gonorrhoea (under 21 years) attending sexual health clinics differed from older individuals with gonorrhoea in their behavioural and clinical characteristics and management outcomes. The results of this cross-sectional study suggest that young people were more likely to be female (66.2% vs 34.1%), have concurrent infection with Chlamydia trachomatis (55.4% vs 30.2%) and a history of recent gonococcal infection (81.3% vs 35.5%) if they ever had gonorrhoea. Young women were more likely to experience treatment delay and not to attend for follow-up than older women. Resistance to ciprofloxacin was high in both age groups but the prevalence of penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae was higher in older patients (11.5% vs 1.3%). Different management protocols for young and older patients with gonorrhoea may need to be considered.