Northern Territory Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Unit Surveillance Update
Centre for Disease Control
Department of Health
Northern Territory Government
Vol. 15, No. 2
Jul-Sep & Oct-Dec 2014
A. Introduction
This Surveillance Update regularly reports quarterly statistics of notifiable sexually transmissible infections (STIs) and blood borne viruses (BBVs) in the Northern Territory (NT). The reporting period for this issue is July to December 2014.
The notification data used in this report were extracted from the Northern Territory Notifiable Diseases System (NTNDS) on 10 March 2015. Other data used in this report include enhanced surveillance data for infectious syphilis from the NT Syphilis Register Information System, HIV notification data from the HIV/AIDS database maintained by the NT Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Unit (SHBBVU); the STI/BBV statistics of Australia and other States and Territories were extracted from the National Notifiable Disease System available online, and the ‘HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis and Sexually Transmissible Infections in Australia Annual Surveillance Report 2014’ and the ‘Bloodborne viral and sexually transmitted infections in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Surveillance and Evaluation Report 2014’ published by the Kirby Institute. Population data used in rate calculation are estimated resident population prepared and provided by the Health Gains Planning unit (updated in December 2013), which were derived from Census data retrieved from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. All rates for 2014 were calculated using population data for 2013 because the population data for 2014 were not available at the time of the report writing.
All notification data of the NT presented in this report are provisional as subsequent data updating and cleaning processes may be carried out, leading to minor changes.
The quarterly rates of notification presented in this report are all crude annualised rates per 100,000 population. Where appropriate, annual rates for 2010-2014 are also presented to show the recent trend, and they are also crude rates. As there is always a small proportion of notifications categorised as ‘interstate’ or ‘unknown residence location’, the sum of the numbers of district-specific notifications presented is lower than the total number of notifications shown in other tables.
B. Quarterly Statistics
Table B.1.1 Number and rate of gonorrhoea, chlamydia, infectious syphilis and trichomoniasis notifications, NT, Jul-Dec, 2014
Quarter Gonorrhoea Chlamydia
Infectious
Syphilis Trichomoniasis Cases Rate Cases Rate Case Rate Case Rate 2014
Jul-Sep 430 718.6 763 1275.1 22 36.8 870 1454.0 Oct-Dec 378 631.7 765 1278.5 26 43.5 871 1455.6 July-Dec 808 675.2 1528 1276.8 48 40.1 1741 1454.8 2014 total 1736 725.3 3031 1266.4 97 40.5 3508 1465.7 2013
Jul-Sep 446 745.4 796 1330.3 10 16.7 830 1387.1 Oct-Dec 431 720.3 747 1248.4 4 6.7 782 1306.9 July-Dec 877 732.8 1543 1289.3 14 11.7 1612 1347.0 2013 total 1912 798.8 2969 1240.5 28 11.7 2972 1241.7
Figure B.1.1 Notification rates of gonorrhoea, chlamydia, infectious syphilis and trichomoniasis, NT, 2010-2014
Table B.1.2 Number and rate of gonorrhoea, chlamydia, infectious syphilis and trichomoniasis by sex, NT, Jul-Dec, 2013 and 2014
Sex Gonorrhoea Chlamydia
Infectious
Syphilis Trichomoniasis Cases Rate Cases Rate Cases Rate Cases Rate Males
Jul-Sep 220 699.2 314 997.9 16 50.9 132 419.5
Oct-Dec 179 568.9 304 966.2 11 35.0 134 425.9
Total 399 634.0 618 982.0 27 42.9 266 422.7 Females
Jul-Sep 210 740.2 449 1582.6 6 21.1 738 2601.2
Oct-Dec 199 701.4 461 1624.9 15 52.9 737 2597.7 Total 409 720.8 910 1603.7 21 37.0 1475 2599.4 Jul-Dec 2013
Males 414 657.9 651 1034.5 12 19.1 253 402.0
Females 463 816.0 892 1572.0 2 3.5 1359 2395.0
Total 877 732.8 1,543 1289.3 14 11.7 1612 1347.0 2014 Annual
Males 861 684.093 1173 932.0 38 30.1923 557 442.555 Females 875 771.02 1858 1,637.2 29 25.5538 2951 2600.32 2013 Annual
Males 924 734.149 1273 1,011.4 19 15.0961 470 373.431 Females 988 870.592 1696 1,494.5 3 2.6435 2502 2204.68
Figure B.1.2 Notification rates of gonorrhoea, chlamydia, infectious syphilis and trichomoniasis by sex, NT, 2010-2014
Table B.1.3 Number and rate of gonorrhoea, chlamydia, infectious syphilis and trichomoniasis notifications by Aboriginal status, NT, Jul-Dec, 2014
Aboriginal
Status Gonorrhoea Chlamydia
Infectious
Syphilis Trichomoniasis Quarter Cases Rate Cases Rate Cases Rate Cases Rate Aboriginal
Jul-Sep 376 2118.2 421 2371.7 18 101.4 841 4737.8 Oct-Dec 319 1797.1 422 2377.3 24 135.2 772 4349.1 Total 695 1957.6 843 2374.5 42 118.3 1613 4543.4 Non-
Aboriginal 2.4
Jul-Sep 43 102.2 275 653.4 4 9.5 20 47.5
Oct-Dec 47 111.7 274 651.1 2 4.8 30 71.3
Total 90 106.9 549 652.2 6 7.1 50 59.4
Unknown
Jul-Sep 11 67 0 9
Oct-Dec 12 69 0 69
Total 23 136 0 78
2014 Annual (adjusted)*
Aboriginal 1554 2188.9 1832 2579.5 54 76.1 3410 4802.0 Non-Aboriginal 182 108.0 1198 711.9 14 8.3 98 58.5
Figure B.1.3 Notification rates* of gonorrhoea, chlamydia, infectious syphilis and trichomoniasis by Aboriginal status, NT, 2014
* Adjusted rates after allocating notifications of unknown ethnicity to Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal categories according to their proportions based on notifications of known ethnicity.
Table B.1.4 Number and rate of gonorrhoea, chlamydia, infectious syphilis and trichomoniasis notifications by district, NT, Jul-Dec, 2014
Gonorrhoea Chlamydia
Infectious
Syphilis Trichomoniasis District Cases Rate Cases Rate Cases Rate Cases Rate Darwin
Jul-Sep 102 268.5 382 1005.6 3 7.9 282 742.4
Oct-Dec 101 265.9 392 1031.9 1 2.6 283 745.0
Total 203 267.2 774 1018.8 4 5.3 565 743.7
Katherine
Jul-Sep 76 1465.8 97 1870.9 6 115.7 164 3163.1
Oct-Dec 80 1543.0 107 2063.7 13 250.7 167 3221.0 Total 156 1504.4 204 1967.3 19 183.2 331 3192.1 East Arnhem
Jul-Sep 22 504.7 55 1261.8 0 0.0 136 3120.2
Oct-Dec 27 619.4 53 1215.9 2 45.9 131 3005.4
Total 49 562.1 108 1238.9 2 22.9 267 3062.8 Barkly
Jul-Sep 28 1649.7 27 1590.8 0 0.0 54 3181.6
Oct-Dec 28 1649.7 36 2121.1 2 117.8 53 3122.7
Total 56 1649.7 63 1855.9 2 58.9 107 3152.2 Alice Springs
Jul-Sep 192 1809.7 179 1687.2 13 122.5 220 2073.7 Oct-Dec 130 1225.3 161 1517.5 8 75.4 221 2083.1 Total 322 1517.5 340 1602.4 21 99.0 441 2078.4
Figure B.1.4 Notification rates of gonorrhoea, chlamydia, infectious syphilis and trichomoniasis by district, NT, 2014
Table B.1.5 Number and rate of gonorrhoea, chlamydia, infectious syphilis and trichomoniasis notifications by 5-year age group, Jul-Dec, 2014
Gonorrhoea Chlamydia
Infectious
Syphilis Trichomoniasis Age
group Cases Rate Cases Rate Cases Rate Cases Rate
<10 3 16.2 2 10.8 0 0.0 1 5.4
10-14 46 539.0 43 503.9 4 46.9 58 679.6
15-19 202 2454.3 369 4483.3 21 255.1 297 3608.5 20-24 206 2110.3 461 4722.6 10 102.4 306 3134.8
25-29 135 1182.2 292 2557.0 5 43.8 258 2259.3
30-34 93 917.8 170 1677.8 1 9.9 221 2181.1
35-39 51 553.3 76 824.5 1 10.8 174 1887.6
40-44 26 282.7 50 543.6 3 32.6 195 2120.0
45-49 18 221.9 25 308.2 1 12.3 116 1430.2
50-54 17 218.5 21 269.9 0 0.0 59 758.3
55-59 8 121.1 10 151.4 1 15.1 28 424.0
60-64 3 59.5 8 158.7 1 19.8 13 257.9
65+ 0 0.0 1 14.1 0 0.0 15 211.1
Total 808 675.2 1528 1276.8 48 40.1 1741 1454.8
Figure B.1.5 Notification rate of gonorrhoea, chlamydia and trichomoniasis notifications by age group, 2014
B.1 Gonorrhoea
The notification rate of gonorrhoea for this 6-month period showed a 7.9% decrease compared with the same period in 2013 (Table B.1.1) The annual rate for 2014 was lower than the 2013 rate by 9.2%. Although there was no consistent trend in this rate in the last five years, overall the gonorrhoea notification rate has decreased by 11.2%
during this time (Figure B.1.1).
The rate for females was higher than the rate for males by 13.7% in this reporting period (Table B.1.2). However, when comparing the annual rates, the rate difference between sexes decreased by 36.3% between 2013 and 2014, and there was an overall decreasing trend in both sexes between 2010 and 2014 (Figure B.1.2).
In this reporting period, the majority of the notifications (86.0%) were recorded in the Aboriginal population, and the Aboriginal rate was about 18.3 times the non- Aboriginal rate (Table B.1.3). The adjusted Aboriginal rate and the non-Aboriginal rate of the NT for 2014 were 3.2 times and 2.3 times higher than their corresponding rate for Australia in 2013 (age-standardised rates for Australia, 694.1 and 47.9 per 100,000, respectively).
The highest district notification rate in this reporting period was recorded in Barkly, followed by Alice Springs, but in terms of annual rates, the rate for Katherine was the highest in 2014 (Table B.1.4 and Figure B.1.4).
The highest age-specific notification rate was recorded in the 15-19 year age group, followed by the rate for the 20-24 year age group; these 2 age groups accounted for just over half of all notifications (50.5%, Table B.1.5 and Figure B.1.5). The same pattern applied to the annual rates for 2014. There were 3 cases recorded in the under 10 year age group and 46 in the 10-14 year age group in this reporting period.
B.2 Genital chlamydia
Both the notification rate for this reporting period and the annual rate for 2014 were about the same as their corresponding rates for 2013 (Table B.1.1 and Figure B.1.1).
The number of notifications in females more than doubled that in males, and the annual rate for female was higher than the male rate by 75.7% in 2014 (Table B.1.2).
Both the annualised rate for this reporting period and the annual rate for 2014 increased in females but decreased in males when compared to the corresponding rate for 2013 and Figure B.1.2). This means the gap between female and male rates has increased in 2014.
Both the rate and the number of notifications were substantially higher in the Aboriginal population (Table B.1.3), although the rate difference between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations was considerably smaller compared with gonorrhoea (Figure B.1.3). The proportion of notifications with unknown Aboriginal status was 8.8%, compared with the 2.9% for gonorrhoea. The Aboriginal to non-Aboriginal rate ratio was 3.6:1. The adjusted Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal rates of the NT for 2014 were both considerably higher than the corresponding rates for Australia (1565 and 373 per 100,000 in 2013, respectively).
Among the districts, the highest rate in this reporting period was recorded in Katherine, followed by Barkly (Table B.1.4). However, Darwin District accounted for just over half of all notifications (50.7%).
In this reporting period, the highest notification rate was recorded in the 20-24 year age group, closely followed by the 15-19 year age group (Table B.1.5). These 2 age groups accounted for 54.3% of all notifications. There were 2 cases recorded in under 10 year age group and 43 in the 10-14 year age group in this reporting period.
B.3 Syphilis
A total of 48 notifications of infectious syphilis were recorded in this 6-month period, giving an annualised notification rate of 40.1 per 100,000 population. This represents a 3.5-fold increase over the corresponding rates of 11.7 per 100,000 for 2013 (Table B.1.1) The annual notification rate increased by 3.5 times between 2013 and 2014 (Figure B.1.1). The 2014 rate for the NT (40.5 per 100,000) is 5.3 times the age- standardised rate for Australia of 7.6 per 100,000 for 2013.
Of the cases reported in this 6-month period, there were 26 males and 22 females (Table B.1.2), and 42 Aboriginal cases and 6 non-Aboriginal ones (Table B.1.3). The Aboriginal rate was 16.6 times the non-Aboriginal rate.
Enhanced surveillance data collected from the NT Syphilis Register for infectious syphilis showed that all 6 non-Aboriginal cases were men who have sex with men (MSM) with 5 of them were imported cases from interstate or overseas. Two-thirds of these cases were diagnosed in Darwin.
All 42 Aboriginal cases reported that they had acquired the infection via heterosexual contact and diagnosed outside of Darwin Urban District. Of these, 20 (47.6%) were notified in the Alice Springs District and 19 in Katherine (45.2%). The majority of these Aboriginal cases were part of a syphilis outbreak which started in the first quarter of 2014 in a number of remote Aboriginal communities in Central Australia and later spread to Katherine district. The outbreak is still ongoing in 2015.
In terms of age-specific rates, the highest rate of notification was recorded in the 15- 19 year age group, followed by the 20-24 year age group (Table B.1.5 and Figure B.3.1).
Figure B.3.1 Annualised notification rate of infectious syphilis by age group, NT, Jul- Dec, 2014
As shown in Figure B.3.2, there was a sharp increase in notifications of infectious syphilis in 2014. In addition, in the category of ‘greater than 2 years or unknown duration’, after excluding the notifications recorded in irregular maritime arrivals (IMAs), the number of notifications increased sharply between 2013 and 2014 (from 40 cases to 59, a nearly 50% increase). This is also mainly due to the outbreak mentioned above.
Figure B.3.2 Number of notifications of syphilis by category, NT, 2006-2014
There were 5 notifications of congenital syphilis in this reporting period, compared with 1 case in the same period in 2013. All 5 cases were diagnosed in remote Aboriginal communities. One of them was classified as ‘confirmed’ and the other 4
‘probable’.
B.4 Trichomoniasis
The notification rate of trichomoniasis continued to increase in this reporting period:
compared with the same period of 2013, the annualised rate increased by 8.0% and the annual rate increased by 18.0% (Table B.1.1 and Figure B.1.1). Both the rate and the number of notifications for 2014 were the highest on record in the NT.
As was the case in the past decade, the notifications in this reporting period were predominantly recorded in females (84.7%) and in the Aboriginal population (92.7%) (Table B.1.2 and Table B.1.3). In terms of the adjusted annual rate, the Aboriginal rate was 82 times the non-Aboriginal rate.
The notification rate for this reporting period was highest in Katherine, followed by Barkly, but the highest number of notification was recorded in Darwin district (Table B.1.4). The distribution of notifications across age groups was more even compared with other STIs (Table B.1.5). The 15-19 and 20-24 year age groups continued to record the highest rates. There was one case recorded in the under 10 year age group and 58 in the 10-14 year age group in this reporting period.
B.5 Donovanosis and other non-viral sexually transmitted infections
There were no notifications of donovanosis, chancroid or lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) in this reporting period.
B.6 Hepatitis B virus Infection
A total of 94 cases were notified in this 6-month period, including 44 females and 50 males, giving an annualised notification rate of 78.5 per 100,000 (Table B.6.1). The rate for 2014 was 95.5 per 100,000 (75.4 per 100,000 if excluding IMA cases), compared with the notification rate for Australia of 30.9 per 100,000 in 2013.
The numbers of notifications in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations were at a similar level, but the annualised notification rate for the Aboriginal population more than doubled the non-Aboriginal rate. The male and female rates were also at a similar level. Over 70% of the notifications were classified as ‘unspecified’ and there were 2 newly acquired cases in this period (Table B.6.2). The number of IMA cases in this period was less than 10, compared with the 39 cases notified in Jan-Jun 2014, and 15 in Jul-Dec 2013.
Table B.6.1 Numbers and rates (per 100,000) of hepatitis B notifications by sex and Aboriginal status, NT, Jul-Dec, 2014
Quarter Sex Aboriginal Non-Aboriginal Unknown Total
Case Rate Case Rate Case Case Rate
Jul-Sep Female 12 135.5 10 51.2 5 27 95.2
Male 6 67.4 8 35.4 3 17 54.0
Total 18 101.4 18 42.8 8 44 73.5
Oct-Dec Female 10 112.9 8 41.0 0 18 63.4
Male 14 157.4 18 79.8 0 32 101.7
Total 24 135.2 26 61.8 0 50 83.6
Jul-Dec Female 22 124.2 18 46.1 5 45 79.3
Male 20 112.4 26 57.6 3 49 77.9
Total 42 118.3 44 52.3 8 94 78.5
Table B.6.2 Numbers of hepatitis B notifications by sex, Aboriginal status and disease categories, NT, Jul-Dec, 2014
Type Gender Aboriginal status
Total %
Aboriginal
Non-
Aboriginal Unknown
Chronic Female 9 3 1 13
25.3%
Male 8 1 2 11
Newly
acquired Female 1 0 0 1 2.1%
Male 1 0 0 1
Unspecified Female 12 15 4 31
71.6%
Male 11 25 1 37
Total 42 44 8 94
% 43.2% 46.3% 9.5%
The annualised notification rate for this period was highest in Barkly, followed by Alice Springs, but Darwin district accounted for the highest proportion of all notifications (56.4%, Table B.6.3). The distribution across age groups showed no evident pattern (Figure B.6.1). Overall, the highest age-specific rate was recorded in the 40-44 year age group.
Table B.6.3 Numbers and rates (per 100,000) of hepatitis B notifications by sex and district, NT, Jul-Dec 2014
Quarter Sex
District Darwin Katherine
East
Arnhem Barkly Alice Springs Case Rate Case Rate Case Rate Case Rate Case Rate Jul-Sep Female 16 88.7 2 81.0 3 146.8 1 122 4 79.8
Male 11 55.1 1 36.8 0 0.0 0 0.0 3 53.6
Oct-Dec Female 7 38.8 0 0.0 2 97.9 3 367.2 6 119.7
Male 19 95.2 0 0.0 1 43.2 2 227.2 5 89.3
Jul-Dec
Female 23 63.8 2 40.5 5 122 4 245 10 99.761 Male 30 75.2 1 18.4 1 21.6 2 114 8 71.464
Total 53 69.8 3 28.9 6 68.8 6 176.8 18 84.8
Figure B.6.1 Annualised notification rate of hepatitis B by age groups, NT, Jul-Dec, 2014
The number of notifications in the Aboriginal population has decreased by 44.6% and the rate by 47.1% between 2010 and 2014 (Table B.6.4 and Figure B.6.2). The increase in rates and numbers of notifications in the non-Aboriginal population in 2012-2014 compared with the preceding years was due to the increase in notifications in IMAs.
Table B.6.4 Number of hepatitis B notifications by Aboriginal status, NT, 2007-2014 Year Aboriginal Non-Aboriginal Unknown Total
2007 341 85 30 456
2008 248 101 24 373
2009 172 80 17 269
2010 168 85 25 278
2011 139 90 14 243
2012 161 153 11 325
2013 152 253 18 423
2014 93 123 13 229
Figure B.6.2 Notification rate of hepatitis B by Aboriginal status, NT, 2010-2014
B.7 Hepatitis C virus Infection
There were 101 cases of hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) notified in this reporting period, 33 females (32.7%) and 68 males (67.3%, Table B.7.1). A total of 205 cases were notified in 2014, which was close to the annual numbers of notifications recorded in 2007-2011 (the increase in notifications in 2012 and 2013 was partly explained by nofitications in IMA people, Figure B.7.1). The number of IMA cases in this reporting period was less than 10. There did not appear to be any evident trend in the annual number of notifications during the period of 2007-2014.
The annualised notification rate for this 6-month period was 84.4 per 100,000, compared with the Australian rate of 46.3 per 100,000 in 2013. There was no newly acquired case in this period (Table B.7.2).
Figure B.7.1 Number of hepatitis C notifications by sex and year, NT, 2007-2014
Table B.7.1 Numbers and rates (per 100,000) of hepatitis C notifications by sex and Aboriginal status, NT, Jul-Dec, 2014
Quarter Sex Aboriginal Non-Aboriginal Unknown Total
Case Rate Case Rate Case Case Rate
Jul-Sep Female 4 45.2 11 56.4 4 19 67.0
Male 3 33.7 21 93.1 6 30 95.3
Total 7 39.4 32 76.0 10 49 81.9
Oct-Dec Female 5 56.5 6 30.7 3 14 49.3
Male 7 78.7 24 106.3 7 38 120.8
Total 12 67.6 30 71.3 10 52 86.9
Jul-Dec Female 9 50.8 17 43.6 7 33 58.2
Male 10 56.2 45 99.7 13 68 108.1
Total 19 53.5 62 73.7 20 101 84.4
Table B.7.2 Numbers of hepatitis C notifications by sex, Aboriginal status and disease categories, NT, Jul-Dec, 2014
Category Gender Indigenous status
Total %
Aboriginal
Non-
Aboriginal Unknown Newly
acquired
Female 0 0 0 0
0.0%
Male 0 0 0 0
Unspecified Female 9 17 7 33 100.0%
Male 10 45 13 68
Total 19 62 20 101
% 18.8% 61.4% 19.8%
The male-to-female rate ratio was about 1.9:1. Aboriginal cases accounted for 18.8%
of all cases. The non-Aboriginal rate was higher than the Aboriginal rate by 37.6%.
The non-Aboriginal rate of 73.7 per 100,000 was considerably higher than the corresponding rate for Australia in 2013 (40.6 per 100,000), but the Aboriginal rate of 53.5 per 100,000 was considerably lower than the corresponding rate for Australia in 2013 (141.9 per 100,000). Among the districts, the highest number and rate of notifications were recorded in Darwin (accounting for 67.3% of all cases, see Table B.7.3).
In 2014, the highest age-specific rate was recorded in the 30-34 year age group, although in males the rate was higher in the 45-49 and 55-59 year age groups (Figure B.7.2).
Table B.7.3 Numbers and rates (per 100,000) of hepatitis C notifications by sex and district, NT, Jul-Dec 2014
Quarter Sex
District Darwin Katherine
East
Arnhem Barkly
Alice Springs Case Rate Case Rate Case Rate Case Rate Case Rate Jul-Sep Female 12 66.6 3 121.5 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 20.0
Male 20 100.2 3 110.5 1 43.2 0 0.0 5 89.3
Oct-
Dec Female 10 55.5 1 40.5 0 0.0 0 0.0 2 39.9
Male 26 130.3 2 73.7 1 43.2 1 113.6 6 107.2
Jul-Dec 2014
Female 22 61.0 4 81.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 3 29.9
Male 46 115.2 5 92.1 2 43.2 1 56.8 11 98.3
Total 68 89.5 9 86.8 2 22.9 1 29.5 14 66.0
Figure B.7.2 Notification rate of hepatitis C notifications by age group, NT, 2014
B.9 Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
In this reporting period 5 cases of HIV were notified, which represented a decrease compared with the same period in 2012 and 2013 but was at the same level of 10 or less notifications observed in 2009-2011 (Table B.9.1). The annual data followed a similar pattern (Figure B.9.1). Although the number of notifications in the NT remained low, the notification rate for 2014, 5.8 per 100,000 population, was at about the same level of the rate for Australia of 5.1 per 100,000 in 2009-2013 and the rate for New South Wales at 5.5 per 100,000 in 2013.
Table B.9.1 HIV notifications by sex and ethnicity, NT, Jul-Dec, 2009-2014
Category 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Female 1 1 1 4 5 3
Male 9 1 5 19 10 2
Total 10 2 6 23 15 5
Aboriginal 0 0 2 1 1 1
Non-Aboriginal 10 2 4 22 14 4
Figure B.9.1 HIV notifications by sex, NT, 2010-2014
Of the 14 cases notified in 2014, 4 were female and 10 male, and only 1 was Aboriginal. Heterosexual contact continued to be the predominant exposure category, accounting for 57.1% of cases, followed by male homosexual contact (35.7%, Table B.9.2). Half of the cases were diagnosed in immigrants and IMAs arriving in Australia with the infection. Four cases (28.6%) were Australians contracting the infection during overseas travel, and all of them were categorised as newly acquired HIV1. Two cases acquired the infection interstate. Only 1 case was
classified as locally acquired. Of the 14 cases, only 1 was categorised as late presentation.2
Table B.9.2 HIV notifications by exposure category and origin of infection, NT, 2014
Exposure category Total %
Male homosexual contact 5 35.7%
Heterosexual contact 8 57.1%
Other exposure 1 7.1%
Origin of infection
Interstate 2 14.3%
Overseas travel 4 28.6%
Immigrant / IMA 7 50.0%
NT 1 7.1%
Total 14
2 A late presentation of HIV case is defined by a CD4+ cell count of <200 cells/µl at HIV diagnosis or
C. Readers’ responses
The SHBBVU is very interested in readers’ responses to this report. Please forward any comments or suggestions to:
Surveillance Project Officer Head of Sexual Health and BBV Unit
Jiunn-Yih Su Dr Matthew Thalanany
Sexual Health and BBV Unit, Centre for Disease Control Department of Health PO Box 40596, Casuarina Northern Territory, 0811 Phone: (08) 8922 7737 Fax: (08) 8922 8809
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
All data in this report are provisional and subject to future revision.
This report is downloadable in PDF and RTF formats from the following website:
http://www.health.nt.gov.au/Centre_for_Disease_Control/Publications/Sexual_Health _Surveillance_Updates/index.aspx
Suggested citation:
Northern Territory Department of Health. Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses Unit Surveillance Update. 2014; Vol. 15, No. 2.
