AUSTRALIA is in the grip of a gonorrhoea and chlamydia epidemic with a surge in cases in the past year.
Newly diagnosed cases of chlamydia leapt 17 per cent to 74,305 in 2010, while those for gonorrhoea rose 25 per cent to just over 10,000.
The figures feature in the latest surveillance report on HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) released today by the University of NSW's Kirby Institute.
The institute's Associate Professor David Wilson said the rise in gonorrhoea and chlamydia cases was partly due to more people being tested in response to public education campaigns.
"However, what we are seeing right now is the rate of diagnosis is surpassing the rate of testing so that indicates there's an increase in overall infection levels," he said.
"So there's an epidemic.
"Almost 75,000 people were diagnosed with chlamydia last year. That's phenomenal. That's more than any other country."
Chlamydia and gonorrhoea can affect women and men who have sex with an infected partner.
Both STIs are treatable with antibiotics, but they can be hard to diagnose because infected people often show no symptoms.
If left untreated in women the infections can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which is the main cause of infertility.
Assoc Prof Wilson attributed the rise in the number of chlamydia and gonorrhoea cases to men failing to practice safe sex by using condoms.
Young heterosexual people were the most likely to be infected with chlamydia, the most common STI in Australia, while men who have sex with men were the most likely to have gonorrhoea.
Young people aged 15 to 29 accounted for 80 per cent of the total cases of chlamydia diagnosed during the year.
The increase in cases among women was almost quadruple the rise seen in 2009, while men showed a more than three-fold increase.
There were substantially higher rates for both STIs among Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.
Indigenous people accounted for more than a third of all gonorrhoea cases and nine per cent of chlamydia cases.
Meanwhile, HIV and viral hepatitis remained at fairly stable levels in 2010.
The number of new HIV diagnoses was 1043, pushing the total number of cases recorded in Australia above 30,000 for the first time.
Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations executive director Rob Lake said while Australia had done well to contain the number of new HIV cases to about 1000 a year, it was time to "move beyond this plateau and decrease infection rates".
He said Australia had committed to a United Nations goal of reducing new HIV infection rates by 50 per cent before 2015 and one of the best ways of achieving that would be by introducing rapid HIV testing.
"Overseas experience has shown that when rapid (an initial result within an hour) HIV testing is offered, testing rates increase, and many people who have never previously tested present for testing," Mr Lake said.
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Australia has gonorrhoea and chlamydia epidemic
Warming the Bed
Simple answer. If the government would stop letting immigrants into the country then this wouldn't happen.
Warming the Bed
None of the story. I myself am pointing the blame because the people who live in those 't as hygienic and civilized as people who live done here. Therefore when the come here by boat illegally they are infecting our country by having sex. This is only a theory and is no way a direct cause. I have no research to back up my claims.
Warming the Bed
Quote by KissFreak
Simple answer. If the government would stop letting immigrants into the country then this wouldn't happen.
I dont get it???
Immigration???
Isnt that what the aboriginals said to their elders 200 years ago.:giveup::giveup:
It is a great post tho Sky.:thumbup:
I have 3 monthly checks :small-print: and that is there for anyone who wants to play but allways
insist on playinsafe unless you can show the same..
Warming the Bed
Hey Randy Mandy,
Sorry about you not getting it. Sometimes I don't explain myself fully. What I am trying to say is something something the Aboriginals said 200 years ago but this time is plausible. Some of these people that come into our country come from a background that is uncivilized and unhygienic, a background that does not believe in contraception, and a background that is linked to the diseases due to the poverty stricken countries they hail from. I have sympathy because we live in a modern world full of technology whilst they are out on the streets and suffering. So they have no choice but to come here by boat and unfortunately bring the diseases they carry. Sometimes, a white anglo saxan falls for these due to sympathy and without knowing, catches the disease because of either not using contraception, or a defect in the condom. Condoms aren't 100% protective anyway. And they have a form of std that can be transmitted during birth then the kid gets it too. This is my theory anyway. But I would rather point the target at catholics because the don't use contraception. Hope this makes sense. Let me know if you need me to rewrite it.
I get it Kissfreak
in the news story though it states that those with the highest cases of gonorrhoea are Aboriginal and TI and they arent immigrants.
Also the highest cases of chlamydia fall into the 15 - 29 age group.
One would think that we need more education and health services in our indigenous communities and more education targeted directly at young people.
Perhaps having a compulsory sex health and education class being available to all students in all schools from primary school age right through high school.
We obviously cannot rely on parents.
Think you're barking up completely the wrong tree, Kissfreak.
Actually I recall hearing somewhere that Canberra had become the chlamydia capital of Australia...?
Also this, from last year:
Actually I recall hearing somewhere that Canberra had become the chlamydia capital of Australia...?
Also this, from last year:
...recent research had shown more than half of all sexually active adults had never been tested for sexually transmitted diseases and 90 per cent had had sex without a condom.
''Young people are still not using condoms. But we also have an increase in the number of 35- to 45-year-olds who have come out of marriages and don't know how to negotiate sex or use condoms,'' she said.
STD rates attributed to immigration policy. I don't think so .
My GP told me that around 40% of Australian teenagers/20-somethings now have genital herpes. (I realise that I have drifted from Chlamydia etc, sorry, but still on STDs). She said that where herpes was once rarer it's now becoming a variation on the norm for Australian teens and young people. She did not in anyway stretch this to blame immigration policy but she alluded to an increase in sexual partners and lack of condom use as possible causes.
My GP's statistics are not backed up by the statistics on which states that GH affects 1 in 8 Australian adults, with twice as many infections in women as in men and that the virus is in fact most prevalent in women ages 35-44 years. 70% of people with genital herpes report getting it from a partner that did not have an outbreak at the time.
I just can't imagine that our rate of any STD has anything to do with immigration. In fact it seems from Afflixion's article and the above statistics that in the case of many STDs it's people precisely like me that are contributing to an increase - newly divorced 30-40 somethings who think that STDs can't affect them because they are mums and dads or just too mature for infection!
