OLDER people should be just as responsible as teenagers when it comes to safe sex, according to sexual health advisors at Great Western Hospital. While sexually transmitted infections are most rife among 16 to 24-year-olds, middle-aged people are also being told to use protection when they have sex.

Dr Sophie Forsyth, GWH's consultant in gyno-urinary medicine, said menopausal women should remember that while pregnancy may no longer be an issue, condoms were still essential. "There is a generation divide when it comes to understanding sexually transmitted infections (STIs)," she said.

"Younger people have been bombarded with sexual health messages in recent years but we are seeing patients in their 40s and 50s coming in too. "In some cases it has been that they are so focused on the pregnancy issue that when that is no longer a cause for concern they have not thought condoms were necessary.

"On the other hand some older people are very much of the opinion that STIs are a younger person's problem." She added that whatever the age or sexual orientation, the only way to protect against STIs was to use condoms.

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