Setting An Example

This post is not for persons who are sensitive to bad medical news, especially relating to human conduct.  In the media there has been a co-incidence of reports that taken together may be a source of worry.

This is the basic one from The Independent and from The Mail this fuller and more gruesome  reporting that there have been a small number of cases of the STI gonorrhoea found in the north of England that are resistant to the antibiotic that is normally used to deal with it.

The question that arises from this is how many other cases there may be where infection is not realised, treatment not sought or cases not reported.  This is a loose estimate at best.

The other story going around the web is the one based on the old human contact theory that if you are in contact with, say, six people, in the course of a year as they are in contact with others, what might be the total figure of interactions.

The answer is that it might be very large, going into seven figures.  Again, this is a loose estimate but given the scale and nature of human movement these days a high figure is probable.  The question then is how high?

These days in The West there are now in the younger and to a degree in the older generations fewer people who are celibate or restrict themselves to either a single partner or within the bounds of the limits of formal partnership, e.g. within marriage, allowing  for those whose beliefs permit more than one.

I understand from reports about the social media and others that many are happy to declare their "bonk" count and the extent of it both in terms of partners and geography.  There are a range of these but the figures for possible interactions do become large.

Perhaps the members of the Houses of Lords and Commons might set an example of voluntary testing and publishing the figures, although sparing the details.  For the USA it could give a whole new meaning to the House of Congress.