Episode 6 - Sexually Transmissible Infections

Australian Social Trends Podcast

Episode 6 - "Sexually Transmissible Infections”

Highlights from an article of the same name from the June 2012 issue of Australian Social Trends. TRANSCRIPT

1 Dave: Hello everyone, this is Dave and you're listening to the Australian Social Trends Podcast, brought to you by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Today's episode complements the release of the June issue of the Australian Social Trends publication and is the sixth episode in our series. So if we get to the end of this podcast and you're still hungry for more info, you can visit our website to read the full articles - you can access those via www.abs.gov.au/socialtrends.

Today's episode is based on an article all about 'Sexually transmissible infections' or STIs, and we have Alex in the studio to talk us through some of the important highlights. Welcome Alex, How are you?

Alex: I'm well thanks Dave. How are you?

Dave: Not too bad, thanks. So Alex, as always, let's start from the very top. What exactly is a sexually transmissible infection? I know back at school, our teachers taught us all about STDs... Are STI's essentially the same thing?

Alex: Well sexually transmissible infections, or STIs, are infections and viruses mainly spread through unsafe sexual practices. STIs is a broader term than sexually transmitted diseases, STDs, or venereal diseases, VDs, but yes we are talking about the same broad concept.

Dave: I know talking about issues such as STIs can be tricky at times though. I guess it's not really the most glamorous of topics, and some people might even be a little put off by it. So why have we done an article on STIs? Just, how important is it?

Alex: Well, it is a really important issue Dave. In Australia, rates of sexually transmissible infections have actually increased over the last decade. This is of concern as STIs can have serious long- term consequences if left untreated such as infertility, as well damage to the genitals, the heart or even the brain.

2 Dave: And I see that those long-term consequences are real risks because certain STIs don't show any symptoms or evidence of infection.

Alex: Yes, that's right.

Dave: Now you mentioned that STI rates have recently increased. What is behind this? Does this mean that the safe-sex message is losing its impact?

Alex: Well we shouldn't jump to conclusions there. Yes, notification rates have increased, but it's not clear whether rising rates are the result of a rise in infection rates, more people being tested for STIs resulting from increased awareness, or a combination of both.

Dave: Right, so potentially, the actual proportion of the population out there with STIs might not have necessarily increased. The higher rate today might actually mean we are just more aware of the issue and are better at getting tested.

Alex: That's correct Dave, but we just don't know to what extent that is the case unfortunately.

Dave: Well in that case, let's talk about what we do know. Given the sensitivity surrounding this topic, do we actually have good data on the current situation of STIs within Australia?

Alex: We do, at least for certain STIs that are listed as nationally notifiable diseases due to their importance. This means all notifications of these STIs are sent to a national authority. So for those particular STIs, chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and HIV, we actually do have quality data.

Dave: Great... and what do the numbers tell us? Who's most affected by STIs?

Alex: Well when it comes to age, STIs do predominantly affect younger adults, but rates of infection have been increasing among older age groups as well. And on top of that, certain STIs do actually 3 affect more people aged in their 30s or 40s than those under 30, so it's not just a young people's issue.

Dave: Alright, so what's the most common STI then?

Alex: Well of the notifiable STIs, chlamydia was the most frequently reported in Australia. There were nearly 80,000 new notifications for persons aged 15 years and over in 2011, and that is equivalent to 435 cases per 100,000 people. Things did differ by age and sex though. Most of these notifications were among women - the notification rate was almost one and a half times as high for women - and four in five notifications overall, were for people aged between 15 and 29 years.

Dave: And there has been an increase in chlamydia notifications recently?

Alex: Yes, there has been. So not only is chlamydia the most frequently reported notifiable STI, but it has also increased dramatically over the last decade. The rates in 2011 were triple what they were in 2001.

Dave: What about gonherroea, do we see the same pattern across the population and in change over time?

Alex: Well for starters gonorrhoea was a lot less common, and while it also showed signs of increase, these were not to the same extent. So over the decade to 2011 notification rates of gonorrhoea grew from 40 to 65 notifications per 100,000 people. Just like chlamydia though, gonorrhoea was most common among younger Australians. On the other hand, unlike chlamydia, gonorrhoea mainly affected men - there were around 8,000 men diagnosed with gonorrhoea in 2011, compared with less than 4,000 women.

Dave: That pattern of mainly affecting men, that is something we see in the other notifiable STIs as well, isn't it?

Alex: That's true, so while Syphilis and HIV notifications were comparatively rare, they both showed that pattern of being more 4 common in men than women. Unlike chlamydia and gonorrhoea though, they tended to be more common in the middle age ranges (say around the 30s and 40s). There was one exception to that though - for women, syphilis notifications were actually most common for the youngest age groups.

Dave: Now not all STIs are notifiable though? Do we know much about other STIs?

Alex: Well one of the other big ones is genital herpes, which appears to be one of the most common STIs. Back in around 1999-2000, an Australia-wide population based study estimated that approximately 1 in 8 Australians had genital herpes. The rate was higher for women than for men (1 in 6 compared with 1 in 12). Once you're infected, the virus remains in the body for the rest of your life and there is no known cure. Fortunately, there is antiviral medication that can shorten and even suppress outbreaks.

Dave: And we’ll just about have to leave it there. But before I let you go, I see that the article touches on a brief history of STIs. Anything interesting to come out of that?

Alex: Well actually, it is thought that syphilis, may have been carried to Europe from the New World after Columbus' voyages, where it then mutated into a more deadly form, and became a major killer during the Renaissance. Our listeners might be interested in a number of historical figures who reportedly suffered from syphilis, including King Henry VIII, Napoleon Bonaparte, Vincent Van Gogh, Leo Tolstoy, Oscar Wilde as well as Al Capone.

Dave: Thanks for your time today, Alex.

Alex: No problem.

Dave: And thanks again to all our listeners. As I mentioned earlier, if you're keen to learn more on this topic, jump on our website and read the full article. The web address for that is www.abs.gov.au/socialtrends.

5 Alex: And another useful website if you need to know more about STIs would be www.sti.health.gov.au.

Dave: As always, here in the AST team we are all ears in regards to feedback for this podcast series. So if you have something to say drop us an email via [email protected]. It's been really good fun bringing together our first six episodes and we are looking forward to providing many more. Thanks for listening and I'll talk to you again soon after our next release of Australian Social Trends in September!