Key findings
- It is estimated that there were 11,080 people living with HIV infection in Australia by the end of 1996.
- Most cases of HIV infection in Australia continue to be transmitted by sexual contact between men. There has been relatively little transmission through other sources of exposure to HIV.
- Among indigenous people in Australia, the rate of diagnosed HIV infection remains low, but a number of communities are still experiencing very high rates of other sexually transmissible diseases.
- National reporting of other sexually transmissible diseases is most readily interpretable for gonorrhoea and syphilis. Incidence of diagnosed gonorrhoea and syphilis per 100,000 population between 1991 and 1996 was highest in the Northern Territory, followed byWestern Australia and Queensland for gonorrhoea, and New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia for syphilis.
- In 1996, hepatitis C infection was the most commonly notified condition, of HIV and related notifiable conditions. Diagnostic tests for hepatitis C antibody first became available in 1990. From 1991 1993, the annual number of notifications of hepatitis C infection increased steadily whereas in 1994 1996, the annual number of notifications remained relatively stable at about 9,000 notifications per year.