Key findings
- It is estimated that there were 11,150 people living with HIV infection in Australia by the end of 1997. The number of people living with HIV infection is estimated to gradually increase to 11,420 by the year 2000, and includes an increasing number of people living with AIDS, from 2,190 in 1997 to 2,410 in 2000.
- 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 relatively low, but a number of communities are still experiencing very high rates of other sexually transmissible diseases.
- Reuse of equipment for injecting illicit drugs has infrequently resulted in HIV transmission in Australia, but transmission of hepatitis C virus continues to occur at very high rates in people who inject drugs.
- Although use of combination antiretroviral therapy has been associated with a drop in AIDS incidence, the extent to which therapy may contribute to improved survival following AIDS is not yet clear.