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Most clinics for sexually transmitted diseases in Australia
and New Zealand do a good job of tracing partners of patients so that further
spread of disease can be prevented, according to a study of 100 STD clinics in
the two countries (Medical Journal of Australia vol 166, 7 April). But
the researchers say it is “of some concern” that 4 per cent of clinics never
trace contacts for gonorrhoea and 9 per cent only do it “sometimes” and that 8
per cent never trace contacts for syphilis. The research was done by Caron
Marks, Robin Tideman and Adrian Mindel from the Academic Unit
of Sexual Health Medicine at Sydney Hospital. They say that there is a
consistency in diagnosis and treatment of STDs in the two countries and that
over the past decade there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of STDs
reported. However, the incidence of STDs remains extremely high in Aboriginal
communities in the Northern Territory, far north Queensland and in the Pilbara
and Kimberley regions of Western Australia.