Sex with strangers leads to jump in gonorrhoea cases

Promiscuous people having sex with strangers are blamed for a rise in gonorrhoea cases in the lower North Island.

Wellington sexual health clinic doctors saw three times as many cases in the first six weeks of this year as in the same period last year, says the clinic's clinical leader, Dr Jane MacDonald.

It is increasing in other parts of the lower North Island as well.

"Many people we've seen are having unsafe sex and it's very difficult for us to trace people, because they are having sex with people they don't know at all or don't have contact details [for]."

She said the 10 cases the clinic dealt with in the six weeks were "the tip of the iceberg" because the number treated by GPs was not recorded.

Most recent patients were men. Many women were also likely to have the infection, but the symptoms were not obvious.

- NZPA