Key findings
- The rate of diagnosis of chlamydia in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population resident in the Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia increased from 1,001 in 2003 to 1,241 in 2007 (24% increase). In the non-Indigenous population, the rate of chlamydia diagnosis increased from 141 in 2003 to 264 in 2007 (87% increase).
- The rate of diagnosis of infectious syphilis increased from 33 in 2004 to 40 per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in 2007. The rate of diagnosis in the non-Indigenous population doubled from 3 in 2006 to 6 per 100,000 in 2007.
- Over the past 10 years, the rate of newly diagnosed HIV infection in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population was similar to that in the non-Indigenous population.
- The population rate of diagnosis of newly acquired hepatitis B infection was 3 per 100 000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population and 1 per 100 000 non-Indigenous population in 2007.
- The rate of diagnosis of hepatitis C antibody in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia increased from 131 in 2003 to 147 in 2007 whereas the rate remained stable in the non-Indigenous population at around 52 per 100 000 population.