Australia, You’re Doing Too Much Unsafe Rooting – STIs Still On The Rise

Far be it for us to sound like your stuffy, disapproving sex ed teacher, but you GUYS you’ve gotta start looking after your bits a lot better.

The University of NSW‘s Kirby Institute for infection and immunity in society have released the data on Australia’s sexual health, and the report card is far from sparkling.
Whilst reported instances of HIV have largely plateaued and stabilised over the past few years, 2014 still saw the highest rate of new cases since 1993, with 1,081 instances of the disease reported.
Of those cases, gay men present as being the most at-risk category in the nation, as reports also show that condomless anal intercourse amongst the homosexual community is also on the rise. However despite this, the amount of cases reported in patients who identify as heterosexual remains a worrying concern.
Meanwhile of all the cases of chlamydia and gonorrhoea reported in the country during 2014, around 78% – by far and away the vast majority – occurred in people aged between 15 and 29.
Last year also saw yet another spike in the number of reported new cases of chlamydia in particular, with a whopping 86,136 being reported – way up on the previous year’s total of 83,100. The disease is by far and away the most widely reported and common sexually transmitted infection, and is particularly prevalent amongst women, who present with the infection almost a third more than men do.
Meanwhile in a stunning indictment on the issues surrounding Indigenous communities and the health support provided, young Aboriginal people are contracting gonorrhoea at a rate 18-times greater than the non-Indigenous population.
And in an even grimmer revelation, Australia is rapidly approaching a crisis point with regards to Hepatitis C.
Severe fibrosis and Hep C-related cirrhosis levels have spiked in the past five years, up to a total of 44,730 cases last year alone. But the good news is that new treatments for the illness – which, with non-invasive treatment, minimal side-effects, and high cure rates, represent one of the greater medical advances in recent memory – have been recommended by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee to be subsidised by the Government. If passed – price negotiations and Federal Cabinet approval are the hurdles standing in the way – the new treatment is expected to vastly increase treatment rates, and thus aid in bringing down the number of cases of Hep C in the country.
But the bottom line to all of this is pretty simple: Secure yr business!
Safe sex is awesome sex, after all.

More Stuff From PEDESTRIAN.TV