there were some 100,000 cases of gonorrhoea in Europe, over three times as many as in 2015. Cases of syphilis more than doubled, to around 46,000. Chlamydia is an exception: after peaking in 2022, prevalence has fallen back to the level of 2015. The jump just after covid could be partly explained by testing facilities coming back online, says Dr Andrew Winter, an STI specialist in Glasgow. But the continued rise since then cannot. “There is a true increase in transmission happening,” says Dr Stela Bivol, who runs the World Health Organisation’s European office for STIs. Why the venereal renaissance? Some blame reckless bed-hopping enabled by dating apps, but evidence is sparse. Users of such apps are more likely to have multiple partners, but that is partly because people seeking multiple partners are more likely to use them. Dr Henry de Vries, a specialist in the Netherlands, notes that dating apps long predate the rise in STI prevalence. “I would be cautious,” he says. Another explanation is that people are using condoms less. But here too, the data are only suggestive. A study by the WHO of nearly 250,000 15-year- olds across Europe from 2014 to 2022 found a significant drop in reported
condom use. But there are few data on population-wide condom usage among those aged 20 and up. A more specific hypothesis is that using pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a pill that fights the spread of HIV, leads more men (especially gay men) to dispense with condoms. A study of patients at a British clinic between 2015 and 2019, by Louis MacGregor of the University of Bristol and colleagues, supported that idea. What is not disputed is the danger. Sexual diseases are usually treatable, but they can be devastating if not caught soon enough. Over time, chlamydia and gonorrhoea can cause testicular infections in men and infertility in women. One of the grimmest phenomena noted by the ECDC is a jump in congenital syphilis, passed on by mothers to their babies. This is rare but often fatal. Between 2023 and 2024 the number of cases doubled to 140, with clusters in Bulgaria, Hungary and Portugal. Fighting STIs starts with working out where they are spreading. Young men do not seem to be the focus. In the latest data, for 2023-24, gonorrhoea rates fell among males aged 15-24 but rose among older ones. Among women, gonorrhoea rates fell, while syphilis rates rose by 15%. The biggest increase was among those aged 20 to 34. Syphilis transmission seems to be especially high among men who have sex with men, but rates among heterosexual men and women have risen sharply too. Geographically, the increase spans the continent. Some of the steepest rises in gonorrhoea in 2023-24 were in Bulgaria, France and Italy, while Belgium and Hungary saw sharp increases in syphilis. Some poor countries report misleadingly low rates because of inadequate surveillance: in Romania, with a population of 19m, just 24 chlamydia cases were recorded in 2024. The ECDC says better monitoring is needed, including information on the proportion of vulnerable groups that are tested in each country. Only a third of European countries provide this data. Knowing whether infections were passed on through homosexual or heterosexual contact could help shape better public-health decisions, says Dr Otilia Mardh, an epidemiologist at the ECDC.
Countries with widespread testing have a different problem. Doctors treat STIs with antibiotics, which leads them to develop immunity. Gonorrhoea already has highly resistant strains. Chlamydia and syphilis do not, but the decision to treat involves weighing benefits against risk. The Netherlands recently cancelled chlamydia screening for people with no symptoms, after studies showed that asymptomatic infections were less likely to damage fertility than had been feared. Even with syphilis, resources could be used more efficiently. Congenital syphilis, which is easily treated, could be tackled with focused testing during pregnancy. Most EU countries test women for syphilis in the first trimester, but fewer than half test those who are most at risk in the third trimester or at delivery. One of the obstacles to reducing STIs is that many societies care less about the groups most at risk: men who have sex with men, migrants and sex workers. In parts of central and eastern Europe new HIV infections continue to rise, even as they have fallen elsewhere in the world. Stigma and discrimination, which deter people from seeking testing and treatment, are partly responsible. But higher rates can themselves prompt a response. In Hungary a sharp rise in reports of congenital syphilis, which went from three cases in 2020 to 91 in 2024 (in part due to greater testing), led to much more rigorous screening. Dr Mardh notes that a recent study in which she took part found a drop in reported chlamydia cases in seven countries in 2023-24. A spike in gonorrhoea rates in the years before had led to public-health campaigns. Sometimes fear is the best medicine.■ This article was downloaded by zlibrary from https://www.economist.com/europe/2026/08/09/sexually-transmitted-infections-are- surging-in-europe
A liberal party is barred in Russia for implicitly opposing the war Russia’s authorities are increasingly fearful of the slightest sign of dissent Aug 13th 2026 ON August 10th several hundred mostly young people gathered in front of Russia’s Supreme Court. The pavement was covered in chalk messages: “For Yabloko, for peace”; Alexei Navalny’s slogan “Russia will be free”; and in Ukrainian, “We have no fear, we have love”. They listened on their smartphones to the court’s proceedings, as it decided whether to allow Yabloko (Apple), Russia’s oldest liberal party and the only openly anti-war one, to run in legislative elections set for September 20th. The party’s electoral manifesto consists of 43 words, the first two sentences in capital letters: FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM! FOR A LIFE WITHOUT FEAR!
Several young people sat in a row, eating apples. Someone holding a green apple and a Russian flag was hoisted above the crowd. A woman with dyed orange hair sat showily reading Kafka. After a few hours the judge, Vyacheslav Kirillov, disqualified Yabloko from the elections for the Duma, the lower house of Russia’s legislature. “Whereas previously it was forbidden to speak out against the war, now it is forbidden even to simply speak out in favour of peace,” notes Dmitry Kisiev, a political strategist in Moscow. The case against Yabloko was a lawsuit filed by Rodina (Motherland), a Kremlin-controlled nationalist party, accusing it of “extremism”. “‘Yabloko are national traitors. They are people who embrace Western values and are demanding our surrender,” Alexei Zhuravlyov, Rodina’s chairman, said after filing the suit. It also accused Yabloko of copyright violations for using old Soviet pacifist songs and for displaying photos of the bombing of Hiroshima, allegedly infringing the copyright of the American army. It was less surprising that Yabloko had been struck from the ballot than that it had been allowed to register on July 29th. Apparently the Kremlin’s election advisers, often known in Russia as “political technologists”, considered it safe. Since 2007 Yabloko has failed to meet the 5% threshold to make it into the Duma, not only because of election fraud but because its support is low. Until this summer, polls put it at around 3%. It was seen as independent but accommodating, willing to make concessions to the Kremlin—and therefore unappealing to opposition-minded Russians. Its main constituency was the ageing Soviet-era intelligentsia. By the time it registered, the Kremlin had depleted its leadership, knocking its most recognisable candidates off the list. Several, including Lev Shlosberg, have been arrested; others have been declared foreign agents. The Kremlin reckoned that Yabloko posed no threat, and would allow it to paint the opposition as marginal. But on July 27th Yabloko declared it would run as the party of peace. “We support the earliest possible agreement for a ceasefire. We support diplomacy and negotiations. We stand for the absolute value of human life, freedom from fear and repression,” the party’s leader, Nikolai Rybakov, said
in a keynote speech. Opinion polls suggest two-thirds of Russians back peace negotiations with Ukraine. Yabloko’s popularity began to grow. Its support quickly reached 5.3% in surveys by Russian Field, a pollster. By the time it was disqualified it had hit 9.3%. Social-media posts of young Russians eating apples, singing about apples or featuring an apple emoji gathered millions of views. Yabloko’s Telegram channel grew to have more followers than that of United Russia, Vladimir Putin’s party. It was endorsed by Russian politicians outside the country, including Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya. The security services that dominate the Kremlin decided that keeping up the pretence of a real election by allowing the party to campaign was too risky. The danger, says Vladislav Inozemtsev, a political analyst, was not so much that Yabloko might re-enter the Duma, but that “they will once again be able to openly and legally speak everywhere about the need for peace.” Letting them win seats would have signalled political change; none has taken place. The show trial highlighted public desire to halt the war. What lesson the authorities draw is a different matter. If they perceive an increasingly bold populace and a growing potential for protest, they will probably conclude that insufficient pressure, censorship and repression have been applied, argues Mr Kisiev. The Kremlin may attempt another military mobilisation after the Duma elections are over. The threat of forced conscription is one of the regime’s most powerful tools. As soon as the court’s decision barring Yabloko from the elections had been announced, the young people in front of the courthouse began chanting “Shame! Shame!” A police officer facing them from across the road delivered a warning through a megaphone: “We’re going to round you all up now. If anyone has got something in their head, I ask you to leave—to the metro, to the discos,” he said. “If you don’t disperse, don’t take offence, but no one will come to rescue you from the military recruitment station.”■ This article was downloaded by zlibrary from https://www.economist.com/europe/2026/08/13/a-liberal-party-is-barred-in-russia- for-implicitly-opposing-the-war