The research comes as Victoria battles awave of syphilis outbreaks that has led to at least four fetal deaths in Victoria in recent years after several babies contracted syphilis from their mothers. The sharp rise in deaths followed a 14-year absence of fatal cases.
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Associate Professor Chow said both sexually transmitted infections had continued to spread at epidemic proportions despite prolonged lockdowns and strict border controls,which some doctors had hoped would slow down the spread.
Exactly why this is occurring remains unclear.Growing research suggests casual sexual activity reduced and dating app use declined during the pandemic.
Associate Professor Chow did say increased sexual promiscuity linked to the explosion in dating apps might have been one factor that had led to a sustained increase in STIs. But he believes the issue is far more complex than that,noting there was a rise in gonorrhoea in the early 2010s,before the online introduction apps became commonplace.
“One of the most concerning things to us is the increase in the disease among heterosexual men and women,” Associate Professor Chow said. “It’s just gone up exponentially among women in the outer suburbs of Melbourne.”
The research found that there was the sharpest rise in cases between 2017 and 2019 with 24,825
notified gonorrhoea cases in Victoria,of which one in five were women,13 per cent were heterosexual males and about 42 per cent were men who had sex with men. It also found rates of infections of the STI had more than tripled in the outer suburbs of Melbourne.
Infections of gonorrhoea among men who have sex with men are concentrated in inner metropolitan Melbourne,and experts said research showed this cohort were the most likely to be regularly screened for STIs,which may explain the higher rates of detection.
But of increasing concern to doctors,is the growing number of cases among women concentrated in the outer suburbs,where there remained a worrying lack of health services screening for sexually transmitted diseases and Associate Professor Chow said there was an urgent need for more support.
Data from the Victorian government’sinfectious diseases surveillance report shows the City of Yarra,which includes inner-city suburbs Fitzroy,Collingwood and Abbotsford,had the highest increase in cases,reporting535 infections last year,compared to 380 in 2020.
Problematically,gonorrhoea has become increasingly immune to antibiotics and a drug-resistant strain of the bacteria,dubbed a “super-superbug”,has been detected in every Australian state and territory.
Associate Professor Chow said there were international concerns about a rising resistance to the antibiotic drugs prescribed to treat gonorrhoea.
“This is quite concerning because it will make the infection more difficult to treat,” he said.
Associate Professor Marcus Chen,from Melbourne Sexual Health Centre,said experts were now examining where Victorians were acquiring gonorrhoea,noting a limitation of the recent study was that it was based on the residence of the notified cases.
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“We’re getting a feel there’s an element of marginalisation linked to outbreaks,” Associate Professor Chen said. “There’s obviously something driving new infections,but if testing and treatment was sufficient to offset it,then you wouldn’t get a worsening epidemic,which is what we are seeing.”
To combat rising rates of syphilis and gonorrhoea,Alfred Health has established theVictorian Sexual Health Network,which is operating at three general practice clinics in Hillside,Clayton and Tarneit.
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