Complacency blamed for HIV increase

17 Oct 2012, 10:20 am   -   Source: AAP

Greens senator Richard Di Natale says a jump in the number of HIV cases diagnosed in Australia is down to public complacency about the disease.

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A public belief that HIV is no longer the "death sentence" it once was is leading to complacency about the disease, Australian Greens senator Richard Di Natale says.

A new report shows the number of HIV diagnoses has gradually risen over the past decade in Australia, with an eight per cent increase in new cases detected just last year.

The report by the University of NSW's infection and immunity unit, the Kirby Institute, also found rates of the sexually transmittable infections chlamydia and gonorrhoea had jumped, the latter by 45 per cent in just three years.

Senator Di Natale, who was a GP and health practitioner prior to entering parliament in 2010, said Australia was a world leader in HIV prevention a decade ago but had since fallen behind.

"New medications have given us a sense of comfort, in that it no longer is the death sentence that it once was," he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.

"It's now become more regarded as a chronic disease than a fatal infection and that has, as a result, created a sense of complacency."

It was crucial people remembered HIV was a serious disease that incurs huge costs on people with the virus and the health system treating them, the senator said.

It was concerning there were about 10,000 undiagnosed cases of HIV within the community, considering the importance of treating the disease early.

There was a number of "roadblocks" facing those trying to find testing and treatment for the disease, and this needed to change.

New testing, for example, that provides an initial diagnosis quickly and easily was not available in Australia, Senator Di Natale said.

"We can now get a result in an hour, but we can't do that in Australia.

"We need to get access to rapid testing."

Safe sex awareness needed to be "front and foremost" in the minds of young people to ensure infection rates of these diseases did continue to rise.

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