By Dr Joe Milton, the Australian Science Media Centre

Cases of syphilis and gonorrhoea have roughly doubled in Australia in the last 10 years, according to the latest update on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) from the Kirby Institute at UNSW, launched this week at an AusSMC Briefing.

There were 5,866 cases of syphilis and 44,210 of gonorrhoea in 2024, Dr Skye McGregor, lead author of the report, told journalists at the briefing.

Concerningly, she said congenital syphilis cases, where the disease is passed from mother to baby, have more than doubled since 2015.

“In this time period we’ve seen 103 congenital syphilis cases in Australia," said Dr McGregor, "which, given we’re aiming for elimination of congenital syphilis, and this is entirely preventable, is a devastating outcome."

“Around half of these cases are among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants, and over this period, tragically there were 34 infant deaths,” she said.

The report also found that rates of chlamydia, the most common STI among Australians, have remained relatively steady over the decade.

“Chlamydia continues to be the most commonly notified sexually transmissible infection in Australia, with over 100,000 notifications in 2024,” said Dr McGregor.

Rates of some STIs were higher among First Nations Australians, the report found, with chlamydia more than double, gonorrhoea around four times higher and syphilis more than five times higher than in non-Indigenous people.

This is "unacceptable", Robert Monaghan, a Bundjalung-Gumaynggir man and Manager of the Yandamanjang First Nations Health Research Program at the Kirby Institute, told the briefing.

“We need to be doing better and we need to be doing more,” he said, emphasising the need for a community-led approach to reach Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians more effectively.

Amidst the generally gloomy stats, there was some good news - HIV diagnoses in Australia have fallen by  27% during the last decade.

While there has been a small increase in HIV notifications over the last two years, this probably reflects the drop in testing and diagnoses during the COVID-19 pandemic rather than a real increase in cases, Dr McGregor said.

However, there are concerns that around a third of newly reported cases were among people who have been living with HIV for four or more years without knowing they have the virus.

Dash Heath-Paynter, CEO of Health Equity Matters, told journalists that implementing the right HIV testing strategies could help.

“We need more targeted testing and investment to ensure all gay and bisexual men, and men who have sex with men, can test frequently enough,” he said.

Another issue the experts discussed was the low rate of STI testing more generally among young Australians. Another recent report put this at around 16%.

“Testing and early treatment is key to driving down those rates, but the rates of testing are so low among young people, we need to make sure the message is out there to get tested regularly,” said Dr McGregor.

You can read more about the briefing here

This article originally appeared in Science Deadline, a weekly newsletter from the AusSMC. You are free to republish this story, in full, with appropriate credit.

Contact: Dr Joe Milton

Phone: +61 8 7120 8666

Email: info@smc.org.au