INCREASING NUMBERS OF BARBADIANS between 15 and 29 years old are being diagnosed with the sexually transmitted infections (STI) chlamydia and gonorrhoea.

What’s most disturbing about this trend is that the majority of them are females.

Last year alone 477 women tested positive for chlamydia as against 124 men, while in the case of those with gonorrhoea, 53 were women and 31 men.

And it is the 15-to-29-year-old bracket that poses the biggest headache as statistics from the Ladymeade Reference Unit, the main testing facility here, show. Of the 606 people who tested positive for chlamydia last year, 507 were within that age range. Similarly, of the 85 testing positive for gonorrhoea, 67 were in that age group.

Read the full story in today's SATURDAY SUN.