HIV present a mixed picture of the sexual health of Australians

There has been a drop overall in diagnoses of the virus that causes AIDS. But rates are not dropping, and are sometimes rising, among many groups in the community not usually considered high-risk.

Black shirt and thousands of HIV and AIDS activists from all over the world Photo by Robin Utrecht/ABACAPRESS.COM Source: AAP

The 963 new diagnoses of HIV in Australia last year represent the lowest total number since 2010.

And gay and bisexual men, sometimes stereotyped as the main carriers of the virus, are m ainly credited for the drop.

While almost two-thirds of all those infected with HIV in Australia are still gay and bisexual men, diagnoses in that group have fallen 15 per cent in the past year alone.