rates of STD's dramatically fell in Australia in the 1990's presumably as a result of the Grim Reaper HIV advertisements which created fear, along with the depressive effects of the economic recession and conservatism of the politically correct culture of the 1990's.
rates of STD's exploded following the 911 Al Quaeda terrorism attacks in 2001 which after an initial global grief and fear reaction seems to have created a culture of living for the day as you don't know what the future will be. This culture combined with the increasing economic prosperity of the asset rich Australians benefiting from the real estate and stock market boom which flowed onto their children who started clubbing with a more sexually promiscuous attitude fueled by ecstasy use and binge alcohol drinking.
This has been further increased by online dating services - men who found partners online were six times more likely to have five or more sexual partners than those who didn't, and women who dated online were seven times more likely. In our hyperconnected world, the chance you'll sleep with someone quite different from you — older, younger or something else entirely — is greater than at any point in our history.
Another risk factor for STIs is travel - and we are traveling overseas more than ever before, and travel tends to increase risky behaviours, new casual partners, reduced condom use and increase substance use
a study of single, heterosexual men in Australia found only 35 per cent used a condom at their last sexual encounter with a casual partner, and even for younger people who used condoms, nearly half had done so incorrectly, or experienced slippage or breakage.The rate of condom use is falling, one report showed that 68% of gay and bisexual men surveyed in 2013 always used condoms with casual partners, the proportion had fallen to 47% in 2016
Chlamydia infections in Victoria rose from 2000 per year in 1999 to more than 11,000 in 2007 - a 5-fold increase.
Notified Chlamydia infections in Australia rose from just under 17,000 in 2000, to a record high of over 61,000 in 2009
1), and then to another record high of 82,000 in 2012, including 5400 aged 12-15yrs, and it is estimated up to 500,000 Australians have Chlamydia without knowing it!
2)rates of HPV infection in Melbourne women aged < 28yrs attending a Melbourne Sexual Health centre fell by 25% in each quarter of 2008 following introduction of Gardasil vaccinations. This compared with rise of 2% per quarter prior to vaccination. By 2012, rates of genital warts in girls under 21yrs dropped from 12% in 2007 to under 1% thanks to vaccination. Rates in women aged 21-30yrs dropped from 12% in 2007 to 4% in 2012.
syphilis increased in Victoria from 50 cases in 2001 to 400 in 2007 - an 8-fold increase, and to 1,500 new cases Australia-wide in 2012.
Gonorrhoea was virtually confined to the male homosexual and indigenous peoples populations in the 1990's but now is becoming increasing prevalent amongst heterosexual young adults. 13,649 new cases were diagnosed in Australia in 2012, still mainly in gay men and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) populations.
antibiotic resistant gonococcal disease is a major emerging threat
18,588 cases of gonorrhoea were detected in Australia in 2015, up from 8,388 cases in 2006
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in 2008, Australian websites were created to assist people with STD's anonymously inform their contacts - usually with a sense of dark humour in line with
inspot.org - the US website which started in 2004.
in the 1990's
syphilis was extremely rare in non-indigenous communities in Australia (most cases were cases in men who have sex with men) and a very low endemic rate amongst northern Australian indigenous communities. In 2011 an outbreak began in indigenous communities in northern Queensland, spreading to NT then northern WA, and in late 2016 in SA, dramatically increasing infections to 2400 cases, 15 congenital cases and 7 babies have died from 2011-2018, with the disease spreading from northern Australia across Australia and into non-indigenous communities. Victoria has reported its 1st case of congenital syphilis in 14 years and since 2015 has been reporting women with the disease in addition to men who have sex with men.
in 2023, there were 34,228 confirmed cases of gonorrhoea, compared to 10,319 in 2010 - half of the cases were in 15 to 29-year-olds
rates per 100,000 population was highest in NT (7-8x rate of other states), Vic, NSW, WA and Qld all at over 100 cases/100,000
rates of syphilis in Qld have increased 6-fold to 1300 per year over the past 15yrs (it was 300 per year in 2013) and congenital syphilis is also increasing dramatically (35 since 2009, 13 of these died)
European data from 2024 show that notifications of gonorrhoea and syphilis, alongside congenital syphilis, reached their highest levels in over a decade, reflecting sustained transmission across multiple countries - gonorrhoea cases reached 106,331, a 303% increase since 2015, and Syphilis cases more than doubled over the same period to 45,577 cases. Chlamydia remains the most frequently reported STI, with 213,443 cases. More than half of the cases of gonorrhoea in 2024 were in men who have sex with men, with the highest rates among those aged between 25 and 34yrs.
3)