Fewer Kiwis contracting sexually transmitted diseases

The number of New Zealanders contracting sexually transmitted diseases has fallen, a newly released report shows.Syphilis rates have had the biggest drop - about a quarter - and have fallen everywhere except the South Island.PHF Science analysis on the country's sexually transmitted disease rates in 2025 shows there were drops across all of the three reported diseases - gonorrhoea, chlamydia and syphilis.Health authorities had been worried about syphilis when it spiked in 2023 but it was now on the decline.There were 605 cases of infectious syphilis notified last year, a 27 percent drop the previous year, and the lowest rate since 2022, the report said.The South Island did not improve on the previous year, however its rate of 11 cases per 100,000 was the same as most of the country.The Northern region - Auckland and Northland, had 13 cases per 100,000.For gonorrhea, the rate of cases fell by 17 percent last year, with 6306 cases reported.The Northern region had the highest rate at 1.7 cases per 1000, with the South Island on the lowest at 0.6 per 1000.Chlamydia rates were down by 13 percent.The Northern region had the highest rate of five cases per 1000, and the South Island had the lowest at 3.8 per 1000.PHF's report said the decrease in STIs was likely due to better prevention, testing and management of contacts.Some at risk people were sometimes prescribed preventative antibiotics.The report showed New Zealand had had its first recorded case of a super drug resistant strain of gonorrhoea known as XDR neisseria.The case was linked to overseas and there had been no transmission in New Zealand but it showed the country needed to keep up good surveillance, the report said.The number of gonorrhoea cases that were antibiotic-resistant to a lesser degree was growing.Across all STIs, the report said there were still many inequities, with higher rates among young people, Māori and Pasifika people and men who have sex with men.