This town in Lancashire has been revealed to be one of the UK’s genital warts capitals

New research by Now Patient has revealed the top 10 areas of England that have the least genital warts diagnoses.

Blackburn with Darwen came in fourth place as one of the least infected area of England with genital warts with a total of 23 newly reported diagnoses and 14.85 per 100,000 people in the area.  

The health experts looked at STI data across the UK to reveal the areas and regions where these infections are most prevalent, both overall and by individual STIs.

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Navin Khosla, a pharmacist at NowPatient, said: "Genital warts are transmitted through skin-on-skin contact, including vaginal and anal sex, sharing sex toys and although rare, oral sex. 

"Genital warts is a common STI and it can take a few weeks or months for the infection to appear after having sex with someone who is infected."

Genital warts are usually small, rough lumps on the skin and can appear:

• Around the vagina and on the penis.

• Around the anus.

• On the skin between the genitals and anus.

They may also:

• Appear on their own and in a group (a group can look like a cauliflower).

• Feel soft or firm.

• Be white, red, skin-coloured, or darker than the surrounding skin.

• Cause pain or discomfort during sex.

• Problems when passing urine.

This is not the first time the North West has been named in the top 10 for STIs.

It came second only to London for rates of chlamydia, with 26,374 new cases recorded in 2022, which equates to 355.33 infections per 100,000 population. Liverpool was named as the most infected city in the North West, with 4,191 new cases in a year. London is the region with the highest rate of gonorrhoea diagnoses with 383.42 new diagnoses per 100,000, with the North West following closely behind with a rate of 132.57 diagnoses.