Experts say almost every country in the developed world, including Australia, is experiencing significant and consistent rises in the rate of new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men (MSM).
While rates of HIV in New South Wales (NSW) have been stable, they have increased significantly in other Australian states. In NSW only an 8% increase in notifications among MSM has been seen, whereas Victoria has seen a 131% increase and Queensland has seen a 55% increase.
Australia has several nationally funded HIV centres but the response to the HIV epidemic is largely carried out by state and territory health departments and there are substantial differences around Australia.
The reason for this is unknown but it is suspected that it may be associated with differences in the management of sexually transmissible infections (STI) and HIV in different states in Australia.
Experts are now also concerned that 'complacency' is creating the risk of an HIV 'superinfection' as HIV-positive men who practise unsafe sex are becoming infected with additional strains of the virus.
In a study by scientists from the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, research has revealed that that up to 4% of 145 HIV-positive Melbourne men could be "superinfected".
The study which is the first Australian research on HIV "superinfection", examined the viral load and the level of infection-fighting T-cells in the blood of the men.
The lead author and director of the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Professor Christopher Fairley says that while "superinfection" had been the subject of some research overseas, the paper was the first Australian research to implicate the phenomenon.