Number of individuals affected by STIs in Italy 2021, by type

In 2021, about 5.8 thousand sexually transmitted infections (STIs) were reported in Italy, almost 18 percent more than the ones recorded during 2020. According to the data, most of the cases of diagnosed STIs were caused by bacterial and viral infections, with roughly 2.9 thousand and 2.8 thousand cases, respectively. People aged between 25 and 44 were the most affected.

HIV infection

Among sexually transmitted infections caused by viruses, the most notorious is HIV, for which new cases in Italy have decreased over the past decade, from 3,892 new diagnoses in 2011 to 1,770 in 2021. The main reasons for conducting an HIV test were, in most of the cases, related to having symptoms of the disease and secondly to having had sexual intercourse without a condom.

Human papillomavirus

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a very common infectious virus, that can be associated with some types of cancers, among which cervical cancer is the most frequent. A vaccine against HPV is available and protects from the most serious variants of the virus.