Cases of syphilis have tripled over the last decade and gonorrhoea is also surging nationwide, according to a worrying sexual health report released today.
The dramatic spikes are "particularly concerning", health experts warned, because the number of people getting tested for STIs has been decreasing in recent years.
The report from researchers at UNSW's Kirby Institute revealed that diagnoses of chlamydia have also been steadily increasing, with cases up 12 per cent since 2013.
"Any rise in STIs is bad news," epidemiologist Dr Skye McGregor said.
"But rising STIs against a backdrop of decreased testing, and the persistent upward trend over the past decade, is particularly concerning."
The number of tests for chlamydia and gonorrhoea among both men and women declined between 2019 and 2022, likely due to ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, McGregor said.
In 2022 there were 93,777 diagnoses of chlamydia, 32,877 diagnoses of gonorrhoea and 6036 diagnoses of infectious syphilis, according to the report.
The number of syphilis cases has more than tripled in the past 10 years, and even though most cases remain in men, there has been a six-fold increase in the number of females diagnosed with syphilis over the same period.
McGregor said the jump in cases among women was troubling.
If untreated in pregnancy, a syphilis infection can lead to miscarriage or stillbirth, or congenital syphilis, when the infection is transmitted to unborn children.
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"Congenital syphilis is an extremely serious condition for infants that can result in significant lifelong health impacts, and in the most severe cases can be fatal," she said.
There have been 69 cases of congenital syphilis in the past seven years, 18 of which resulted in the death of the infant.
Congenital syphilis diagnoses are 14 times as high among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants compared with non-Indigenous infants, the report found.
According to the report, most chlamydia cases in Australia are undiagnosed and untreated.
Chlamydia was the most frequently notified STI in Australia in 2022, with more than two in three diagnoses occurring in young people aged 15 to 29 years.
Researchers estimated one in 27 young females in Australia had chlamydia at some point in 2022, with less than half being diagnosed.
"That equates to over 91,000 young women," McGregor said.
Gonorrhoea also increased in 2022, and diagnoses in major cities were almost three times as high in in 2022 than they were 10 years ago.
Most diagnoses, around 71 per cent, were detected in males.
McGregor said the data showed most gonorrhoea diagnoses are among gay and bisexual men.
If you need help or more information contact the national healthdirect hotline 1800 022 222 or visit www.health.gov.au/topics/sexual-health
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