The Myths and Misconceptions About STIs.
MICHELLE WAKIM, REPORTER: STIs aren't brought up very often, but when they are, they're usually used as a punchline.
MEAN GIRLS, MOVIE (2004): You will get chlamydia, and die.
THE OFFICE, TV SHOW (2010): I know tonnes and tonnes of people who have herpes. I have it myself.
SEX EDUCATION, DRAMA SERIES (2020): Why is it like the walking dead in here? What is going on? Chlamydia. Everyone's got it!
Sexually transmitted infections are really common, but apart from a few pop culture references, we don't really talk about them. And it's left us exposed to growing infection rates, stigma, and a whole lot of misinformation.
SEX EDUCATION, DRAMA SERIES: One for a fiver, three for ten. You cannot catch chlamydia from the air. You have to have sexual contact with the carrier. Shh, they don't know that do they.
So if you're having sex or think you might one day, this is important stuff.
NIKKI BRANDON, SEXUAL HEALTH NURSE, SHINE SA: My name's Nikki Brandon, I am a sexual health nurse. In sexual health, we do things like STI screening, so screening for sexually transmitted infections, and we also do lots of work around contraceptions. Oh I love my job.
Nikki has been doing this for more than 30 years. So, we sat down with her to try and work through some of the big myths and misconceptions about STIs.
NIKKI BRANDON: Oh well probably the, the most obvious one is, 'oh it won't happen to me' but of course STIs don't discriminate. If you're sexually active, then it can certainly happen to you.
A sexually transmitted infection, or a STI, is an infection that can be passed from one person to another through sexual contact.
NIKKI BRANDON: Obviously they're spread through sexual intercourse, so through vaginal sex, oral sex, and anal sex, but they can also be spread through some close contact, so sometimes skin-to-skin contact is enough.
But what exactly are we spreading here? Well, first we have chlamydia, the most common STI in Australia.
NIKKI BRANDON: The main thing with chlamydia is it doesn't always have symptoms, or if it does have symptoms the symptoms just aren't enough to be recognised.
And here's a good spot to address misconception number two.
NIKKI BRANDON: People think if they don't have any symptoms, then they must be okay. A lot of the sexually transmitted infections don't actually have symptoms, so you can't rely on symptoms alone. If there are symptoms, it will be things like a genital discharge, pain passing urine, and sometimes it can cause pain in the belly.
Gonorrhoea is another big player and is quite similar to chlamydia in its symptoms. So again, you might get pain passing urine, discharge, irregular bleeding between periods or bleeding after sex. Next, we have syphilis.
NIKKI BRANDON: Syphilis has got a few stages of symptoms. So initially, there might be an initial sore, which usually doesn't hurt. And then what can happen with syphilis is you can have a rash that will go all over the body, but it can affect their hands and the soles of the feet as well. And that's quite unusual for a rash.
And one that you might have heard of is herpes.
NIKKI BRANDON: Herpes is certainly one of those infections that causes a lot of concern with people. It's a cold sore. So cold sores are very common. Genital herpes is basically just a cold sore down there. So, while it's annoying and it can be a bit painful, it's not there all the time. The virus will stay in your nervous system, but it doesn't mean you're always going to have the symptoms and it doesn't mean that you're always going to be infectious. But when the symptoms are on the skin surface, so when the blisters are out, that's when you're the most infectious and that's where you shouldn't have any activity. But when the symptoms have gone and the sores are all healed up, you're good to go.
But whether or not you have symptoms, STIs shouldn't go untreated. Chlamydia and gonorrhoea can actually progress to cause other conditions, which can lead to infertility or chronic pelvic pain. And with syphilis, it can end up damaging someone's vision, heart, lungs and bones, and can have devastating impacts on a pregnancy or the health of a baby.
NIKKI BRANDON: There certainly can be consequences of untreated STIs. That's why regular screening is so important because if you wait to rely on symptoms, the infection can actually be causing more damage than it should.
It's important to note that while we've mentioned some of the most common STIs, there are still others out there. In Australia, STI awareness really came into the spotlight in the 1980s during the HIV AIDS epidemic. At the time, some pretty full-on campaigns were shown on TV.
OLD HIV AIDS TV CAMPAIGN: One person dies from AIDS in Australia every second day and many more are becoming infected. AIDS is spread by sexual intercourse.
NIKKI BRANDON: Obviously HIV had put a lot of fear into people, so there was a lot fear, there was a lot terror actually. You probably remember the campaign with the Grim Reaper, it was, it was scary times, and, and you know everyone was so scared.
OLD HIV AIDS TV CAMPAIGN: AIDS can be stopped and you can help stop it. If you have sex, have just one safe partner or always use condoms, always.
That fear was effective when it came to getting the message across about safe sex, but these ads also created a lot of stigma around the queer community, particularly around gay men, because a HIV diagnosis was and still is most common among men who have sex with men, but some of that stigma still remains today.
NIKKI BRANDON: We're very much past that now. We've got excellent treatments for HIV. It's no longer the death sentence it was once perceived as being. We got treatments for people with HIV and we've got treatments to stop people developing HIV. We've absolutely come through that one.
But in the decades since the 1980s, the number of STIs recorded each year has been climbing. Over the last 20 years, chlamydia has roughly tripled in the number new cases diagnosed per year, bringing us to more than 100,000 cases last year. Gonorrhoea has increased massively over those same two decades, from 7,000 in 2004 to 44,000 in 2024, and syphilis, which we nearly got rid of in the early 2000s, has increased by almost ninefold to around 6,000 cases per year. It's fair to say STIs have become pretty common, to the point where one in six of us will get one at some stage.
SEX AND THE CITY, TV SHOW (2000): I always practice safe sex.
GLEE, TV SHOW (2014): Yeah, the doctor called me and said I tested positive. How is that possible? I don't know how. Well, do you wear condoms? No. Well, that would be how.
Well, a lot of us aren't actually being as safe as we could be, and that's what's leading to more infections.
NIKKI BRANDON: So we actually like to use the phrase safe first sex. Safe first sex will incorporate things like consent, using protection condoms is so important and I think that's getting a bit lost at the moment, but condoms are the one thing that does protect against sexually transmitted infections. Now people aren't so fearful of HIV. People aren't using condoms as much as they used to be and obviously along with those regular STI screenings.
While STI rates have gone up, testing has gone down. And a lot of that is because many of us don't actually know how testing works.
NIKKI BRANDON: You know, some people think, 'oh well, I had a test, you know, I've already had a test, so I should be fine.' It's not one and done, you need to have regular testing. Like going to the dentist, you know, it should be just a, a routine thing that people are talking about and caring about. For young people under the age of 30, it should be at least once a year. Ideally, to have a test before a new partner, that would be ideal, but yeah, certainly with changing sexual partners, or at least once a year. And another misconception is around screening. I think people think that you have to get undressed or you have show people bits and pieces. You don't.
STI testing is often as simple as a blood test, a urine test, or a swab. And in some cases, this can even be done at home. But sexual health clinics, your GP, Aboriginal health clinics or family planning centres are all good places to start. And each state has a sexual health service that you can call or email if you need more information. There's one more thing we have to do if we test positive for an STI.
THE OFFICE, TV SHOW: You need to contact every woman you've been with and notify them of your herpes infestation. It's the right thing to do.
SEX AND THE CITY, TV SHOW: She told me that I should contact all the people that I might've given it to, so they can all be treated.
HEARTBREAK HIGH, TV SHOW (2022): Just wanted to let you know that I have chlamydia, so you probably do as well.
NIKKI BRANDON: If people do test positive for an infection, you do have to tell your partners. So, telling people that you're having sex with is the most important way of actually eliminating all STIs.
Experts like Nikki say while we might find those conversations a bit embarrassing, we shouldn't feel any shame about having an STI. And proper treatment can put any misconceptions about how it impacts us long-term to bed.
NIKKI BRANDON: Oh no, no, you can absolutely have sex again. But this is why safe first sex is important. You know, use your protection, make sure all your activities are consensual, and like I say, regular testing. The important thing with all STIs is that if you're given treatment for an STI, you need to take the entire treatment, and that's it, it will go. You'll be, you'll be good to go again.
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