British scientists are warning that hundreds of thousands of young people between the ages of 16-44 who have had multiple sex partners could be unknowingly infected with a sexually transmitted infection known as Mycoplasma genitalium (MG).

The Daily Mail is reporting on research which found the presence of the new sexually transmitted infection (STI) in one percent of the British population. In particular, researchers found that 90 percent of the cases in men and 66 percent of the cases in women were in people between the ages of 25 to 44 years.

The long-term effects of MG are still unclear but research has found that it can cause inflammation of the urethra and/or cervix, pelvic inflammatory disease and possibly female infertility.

Even more worrisome is that the infection rarely causes symptoms which leaves many victims unaware that they are infected.

The latest warning comes after scientists analyzed 4,500 people from Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. They found that MG was prevalent in up to one percent of the general population in people who had at least one sexual partner.

However, the rate jumps to 5.2 percent in men who have had more than four partners in the past year, and 3.1 percent in women.

Two hundred persons aged 16-17 years who reported having engaged in no sexual activity were found to be free of the infection.

Dr. Pam Sonnenberg, lead author of the paper appearing in the International Journal of Epidemiology, warned that because so many people don’t report symptoms, testing only those with complaints is leaving the majority of cases undetected.

She is calling for more research to help doctors test and treat MG infections and to determine what the long-term complications of the infection may be.

The increasing prevalence of MG and other STIs in youth is sounding the alarm among health care professionals who are warning young people about using dating apps such as Tinder, Grindr and Happn, which are already linked to increasing rates of STIs.

Dr. Peter Greenhouse of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV says these apps pose potentially catastrophic consequences and could trigger an “explosion” in HIV in heterosexual people.

“You are able to turn over partners more quickly with a dating app and the quicker you change partners, the more likely you are to get infections,” Dr. Greenhouse told BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat. “'If enough people change partners quickly, and they've got other untreated sexually transmitted infections, it might just start an explosion of HIV in the heterosexual population. Apps could do that.”

The US is currently experiencing an estimated 20 million new cases of STIs annually with half of those cases occurring in people between the ages of 15-24. The total annual cost to treat these cases is almost $16 billion per year.

“Each of these infections is a potential threat to an individual’s immediate and long-term health and well-being,” the CDC reports. “In addition to increasing a person’s risk for acquiring and transmitting HIV infection, STDs can lead to severe reproductive health complications, such as infertility and ectopic pregnancy.”

There's only one foolproof method to avoid contracting one of these infections - abstinence until marriage.

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