Swingers may be STI 'bridge' to general population.

Partner-swapping couples could be responsible for bringing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) into the general population, a new study has found.

Writing in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections, the Dutch researchers said this is particularly the case among older swingers.

The team from the Maastricht University Medical Centre looked at 9,000 sexual health clinic patient consultations and found 12 per cent were with swingers, with an average age of 43.

Furthermore, more than half (55 per cent) of all diagnoses in the over 45s were made in swingers.

However, this group are usually ignored when it comes to targeting sexual health campaigns, said the researchers.

"Potentially, they [swingers] may act as an STI transmission bridge to the entire population," they commented.

"While other risk groups for STIs, such as young [straight people] and [gay men] are systematically identified at STI healthcare facilities and provided with appropriate services, this is generally not the case for swingers."

They added that bringing in a system to indentify and test those that engage in swapping partners could help reduce STIs among swingers as well as the general population, the BBC reports.

Chlamydia is the most commonly diagnosed and treated STI in the UK, largely because it is asymptomatic in the majority of cases.

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