sexually transmitted infections (STIs)<\/a>.<\/p>\nKirby Institute Epidemiologist Dr Skye McGregor told TDA they would like to see \u201chigher testing and reducing that stigma around sexual health\u201d.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what you need to know.<\/p>\n
Background<\/p>\n
Researchers at the Kirby Institute, part of UNSW, study infectious diseases including gonorrhoea and syphilis.<\/p>\n
This week, it released data showing that, overall, rates of syphilis and gonorrhoea have increased by 78% each over 10 years.<\/p>\n
This equates to around 6,000 syphilis cases and 42,000 gonorrhoea diagnoses, including 14 congenital syphilis cases, meaning the infection was passed on from mother to child.<\/p>\n
Syphilis cases in Australians aged 25 to 29 have increased by 50% since 2016.<\/p>\n
Syphilis<\/p>\n
Syphilis can be transmitted through oral, vaginal and anal sex, pregnancy, and blood transfusions.<\/p>\n
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It can be asymptomatic.<\/p>\n
If left untreated, it can cause issues ranging from vision and hearing loss to death.<\/p>\n
Gonorrhoea<\/p>\n
Gonorrhoea can also be transmitted through oral, vaginal and anal sex, as well as pregnancy.<\/p>\n
It is often asymptomatic, especially in women, and can lead to infertility and pregnancy issues.<\/p>\n
First Nations<\/p>\n
First Nations Australians make up around 3.8% of the national population, however they are disproportionately represented in STI cases.<\/p>\n
The data also showed First Nations people were diagnosed with HIV at 1.9 times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians, up from 1.6 times in 2016.<\/p>\n
Syphilis cases detected in First Nations people rose from 21% in 2016 to 25% in 2025.<\/p>\n
Gonorrhoea cases detected in First Nations people fell from 28% in 2016 to 21% in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Young Australians are being diagnosed with syphilis and gonorrhoea at higher rates than a decade ago, with First…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,137],"class_list":["post-892819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}