Syphilis Outbreak: Qld, NT and Northern WA

[Tania Admin]

Information Source: Link is broken so has been taken down

Syphilis outbreak strikes northern QLD


Queensland's peak indigenous health body is calling for extra funding as northern Australia faces the biggest syphilis outbreak in 30 years.

Northern Australia is facing the biggest syphilis outbreak in 30 years, with the rate of the disease in teenagers aged 15 to 19 almost tripling over four years.

The Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC) says more than 500 indigenous Australians have contracted the disease in the state since 2010.

Three infants, who were infected in the womb or during birth, have died and a report by the Kirby Institute has found indigenous people in remote areas are more than 300 times more likely to get the disease.

QAIHC chief sexual health policy officer Dion Tatow blames part of the outbreak on cuts to localised health services by the former Newman government and a diminished focus on sexual health in favour of chronic diseases.

He says there needs to be a targeted education program and increased screening for people aged 15-29.

"Anybody in that target group who is having sex with multiple partners needs to be tested," he said.

The rate of the disease in teenagers aged 15 to 19 almost tripled over the four years to 2014.

Indigenous Australians made up 12 per cent of the 2000 new cases of syphilis reported nationally last year.

Mr Tatow says the rate of people sharing needles in remote communities has increased after a clean equipment program was changed, also by the Newman government.

The disease is also adversely affecting communities in the Northern Territory and parts of Western Australia.

A forum on the issue is expected to be held in Darwin next month.

 

[Mrs Langtrees]

Darwin did you call the agency that posted this and find out the percentage of Australians that had also increased? Otherwise informative thread. from wikepedia.......
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis. Other human diseases caused by related Treponema pallidum include yaws (subspecies pertenue), pinta (subspecies carateum), and bejel(subspecies endemicum).

The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary). The primary stage classically presents with a single chancre (a firm, painless, non-itchy skin ulceration), secondary syphilis with a diffuse rash which frequently involves the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, latent syphilis with little to no symptoms, and tertiary syphilis with gummas, neurological, or cardiac symptoms. It has, however, been known as "the great imitator" due to its frequent atypical presentations. Diagnosis is usually made by using blood tests; however, the bacteria can also be detected using dark field microscopy. Syphilis can be effectively treated with antibiotics, specifically the preferred intramuscular benzathine penicillin G (or penicillin G potassium given intravenously for neurosyphilis), or else ceftriaxone, and in those who have a severe penicillin allergy, oral doxycycline or azithromycin.

Syphilis is thought to have infected 12 million additional people worldwide in 1999, with greater than 90% of cases in the developing world. After decreasing dramatically since the widespread availability of penicillin in the 1940s, rates of infection have increased since the turn of the millennium in many countries, often in combination with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This has been attributed partly to increased promiscuity,prostitution, decreasing use of condoms, and unsafe sexual practices among men who have sex with men.[1][2][3] In 2015, Cuba became the first country in the world to eradicate syphilis.[4]
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[Tania Admin]

Source: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/he...d/news-story/2d420e1610f3d96b0269c8e35ebf4baa


While new HIV infections have flattened out over the past three years, along with chlamydia in recent times, more Australians are being diagnosed with gonorrhoea and syphilis.


Experts say the rise in gonorrhoea and syphilis infections is concerning but could be the result of more widespread testing, rather than an actual spike in infections.


A record 1999 cases of syphilis were reported in 2014, and sexual health experts say that’s unacceptably high.

 

[Mrs Langtrees]

Tania what has syphilis to do with HIV these sort of posts and threads should be once every few days, no one has time to read all this info it should be edited with a link if you want it to be effective.