Where to get help

Young People and STIs

Are STI rates rising?

The short answer is yes! There were around 70,000 reported cases of STIs (sexually transmissible
infections) in Australia in 2008 – 13% more than in 2007, and it’s young people who are most at risk. Three quarters of known cases occur among people aged between 15 and 29 years.

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Which STIs are more common?

Chlamydia rates have quadrupled in the last decade, mainly among young people. Eight out of ten diagnosed cases are in people aged between 15 and 29 years. Because the infection usually doesn’t cause symptoms and many people remain untested, numbers may be even higher.

Research shows more than ten per cent of the population carries the virus responsible for genital herpes. In 2008 alone, more than one in ten Australians diagnosed with a reportable STI had gonorrhoea.

In recent years the number of HIV infections in Australia has been on the rise, with an increase in new cases being transmitted through heterosexual sex.

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Why are young people especially at risk?

Anyone who has unprotected sex risks getting an infection. Young people are usually less experienced in or confident about sexual relationships and sometimes unknowingly put themselves at risk. The reasons for this might be:

• Low awareness about the dangers of STIs. Many young people just don’t know how common STIs are or that they can easily happen to ‘people like them’. Many wrongly believe that they can tell if someone has one. Not true! How someone looks, their sexual orientation or their cultural background isn’t enough to make the call.
  

• Changing partners more frequently. It’s common for young people to experiment before entering a long-term relationship. This means young people are more likely to come into contact with someone who has an STI.
  

• Not knowing ‘safe sex’ is about more than avoiding pregnancy. Sex without a condom increases the risk of getting an STI or passing it onto someone else. Some people may intend to use them but not have any in the heat of the moment – studies show that almost half of young people don’t always carry condoms. Many others find it difficult to ask partners to use them, either through embarrassment or because they don’t know how to handle the more common excuses. There are lots of excuses but none are as important as the reasons to use condoms.
  

• Not getting regular check-ups for possible infections as they don’t feel personally at risk of having an STI. Although many of these infections don’t show any obvious signs, they can have a serious health impact if left untreated. Infrequent testing means that many young people don’t even know that they are spreading these infections further.

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