Syphilis Statistics in Australia 2026 | Test, Stages, Cases, Skin Rash & Facts

Syphilis Cases in Australia 2026

Syphilis in Australia has moved from a rare, well-controlled infection to one of the country’s most pressing sexual health emergencies. After cases more than doubled in the decade to 2024, national notifications climbed to 8,993 in 2025, the highest annual total recorded since syphilis became a nationally notifiable condition in 2004. The scale of the resurgence prompted Australia’s Chief Medical Officer to formally declare syphilis a Communicable Disease Incident of National Significance in August 2025, a first for this infection and a signal of how seriously health authorities now treat the outbreak.

Heading into 2026, more than 2,800 new notifications have already been logged nationally, and the epidemic continues to show two distinct faces: an ongoing heterosexual outbreak concentrated among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in northern and central Australia, and a parallel rise among men who have sex with men in major cities. This article breaks down the latest syphilis statistics in Australia, covering national and state-level trends, testing and diagnosis, the four clinical stages of infection including the tell-tale skin rash, and the treatment and prevention measures being rolled out in response.

Interesting Facts and Key Statistics on Syphilis in Australia 2026

Source: Kirby Institute (UNSW Sydney), Australian Centre for Disease Control, National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.

Syphilis notifications did not creep upward gradually but doubled within a decade before spiking sharply again between 2024 and 2025. The jump from 5,866 cases in 2024 to 8,993 in 2025 represents a single-year increase of more than 3,000 diagnoses, a scale of change rarely seen with a bacterial infection that has been treatable with a single antibiotic injection for decades. That trajectory, combined with the formal National Significance declaration, tells us this is no longer a localised outbreak but a countrywide public health event.

The second story in this table is inequality. The gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander notification rates and non-Indigenous rates — 7 times higher overall and as much as 26 times higher among women — shows that the burden of this epidemic is not spread evenly. Pair that with the 99 congenital syphilis cases and more than 30 infant deaths since 2016, and the numbers make clear why antenatal testing and community-based care have become central to Australia’s national response.

National Syphilis Notifications in Australia 2026

Source: Kirby Institute National Update, Australian Centre for Disease Control quarterly surveillance reports.

The national trend line in this table tells a story of acceleration followed by a possible turning point. Notifications climbed from 6,566 in 2023 to 8,993 in 2025, an increase driven partly by expanded testing but mainly by genuine transmission growth across both major outbreak groups. What stands out about the 2026 figures, however, is that clinicians in Victoria have described early data as showing a slight plateau, raising cautious hope that the multi-year surge may finally be losing momentum.

Even so, more than 2,800 notifications in the opening months of 2026 confirm that syphilis remains firmly embedded in the community rather than fading on its own. Public health officials continue to describe the situation as ongoing high transmission, and the gap between 2025’s record total and any real decline in 2026 is still narrow enough that sustained testing and treatment efforts remain essential rather than optional.

Syphilis Cases by State and Territory in Australia 2026

Source: Australian Centre for Disease Control, National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, 2024 jurisdictional data.

Raw case counts and population-adjusted rates tell two different stories in this table. By sheer volume, New South Wales recorded the most notifications at 968, followed by Queensland with 869 and Victoria with 834 — a reflection of population size rather than outbreak intensity. Once the data is adjusted for population, the picture flips: the Northern Territory’s rate of 111 per 100,000 dwarfs every other jurisdiction, running roughly five times higher than Queensland’s rate of 26 per 100,000.

This divergence matters for how resources get allocated. A state like New South Wales needs broad urban screening programs to manage its high case volume, while the Northern Territory requires intensive, remote-area outreach because its small population is being hit disproportionately hard. Readers researching the wider demographic backdrop to these regional differences may also find it useful to look at Australia’s population, which helps explain why raw notification counts and per-capita rates diverge so sharply between the eastern states and the Territory.

Syphilis Notification Rate by Gender and Age Group in Australia 2026

Source: Kirby Institute HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexually Transmissible Infections Annual Surveillance Report; Brunker Road Medical Centre national update.

Men account for the overwhelming majority of syphilis diagnoses in Australia, at 82% of all notifications, largely reflecting ongoing transmission among gay and bisexual men in urban centres. The 30–34 age bracket carries the heaviest load for both sexes, with 587 male and 140 female notifications recorded in this group during 2025 — a pattern consistent with the age range in which people report the highest rates of new sexual partnerships and, often, the lowest perceived personal risk.

What should concern policymakers most is the trend beneath the headline percentages: female notifications rose 108% during the COVID-19 period compared with a 45% rise among men. That faster growth among women of reproductive age is precisely what feeds into the parallel rise in congenital syphilis, since untreated infection in a pregnant woman can pass directly to her baby regardless of how small her share of the overall case count remains.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Syphilis Statistics in Australia 2026

Source: Medical Journal of Australia national notifications cohort analysis; Australian Centre for Disease Control.

The disparity captured in this table is the single most striking feature of Australia’s syphilis epidemic. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are diagnosed at 7 times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians overall, but that gap widens dramatically for women, whose notification rate runs at 26 times the non-Indigenous female rate. A 148 per 100,000 rate among ATSI men and 168 per 100,000 among ATSI women reflects outbreaks concentrated in remote and very remote communities where healthcare access remains limited.

The consequences extend directly into the next generation, since the congenital syphilis rate of 38.3 per 100,000 live births among ATSI infants is more than eighteen times the 2.1 per 100,000 rate recorded among non-Indigenous infants. This is why national strategy documents specifically target the Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, and South Australia for enhanced community-controlled testing programs, rather than treating the outbreak as a single, uniform national trend.

Congenital Syphilis Statistics in Australia 2026

Source: Medical Journal of Australia; Kirby Institute Data Dashboard; Australian Centre for Disease Control CMO statement.

Congenital syphilis is the most tragic dimension of this epidemic, and the numbers explain why it has become a national elimination target. Between 2011 and 2021, Australia recorded 74 cases, but the pace accelerated toward the end of that window, with 17 cases in 2020 alone. By 2024, the cumulative total since 2016 had reached 99 cases, with 33 infant deaths attributed to the condition — a toll that has since grown to more than 30 deaths through into 2026.

The severity of untreated congenital syphilis is captured starkly in the finding that 50 to 80% of pregnancies with inadequate treatment result in serious adverse birth outcomes, including stillbirth or infant death. That single statistic is behind the shift toward universal repeat screening in pregnancy now recommended in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, and South Australia, rather than testing only women flagged as high-risk.

Syphilis Testing and Diagnosis in Australia 2026

Source: National Syphilis Surveillance Report Quarter 2 2025; Australian Centre for Disease Control.

Diagnosing syphilis in Australia relies on a two-step blood testing approach: a non-treponemal test such as RPR to detect active disease, followed by a treponemal test like TPPA to confirm the diagnosis, since treponemal antibodies persist for life even after successful treatment. In remote and outreach settings, point-of-care rapid tests have become critical, delivering results during a single clinic visit rather than requiring a return trip that many patients in remote areas cannot make.

Testing coverage numbers, however, reveal a persistent gap. Only 26% of the priority 15–34 age group and just 16% of all attendees at participating Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services were tested for syphilis in the second quarter of 2025. Given that this age group carries the highest notification rates nationally, that low coverage figure is a major reason researchers and clinicians continue pushing for routine, opt-out testing to be built into standard healthcare visits rather than left to individual risk assessment.

Syphilis Stages and Skin Rash Symptoms in Australia 2026

Source: NSW Health Syphilis Control Guideline; Sexual Health Victoria; Australian Centre for Disease Control.

The four-stage progression of syphilis explains why the infection is often called “the great imitator.” Primary syphilis produces a single painless sore that many people never notice, appearing within 10 to 90 days of exposure. Left untreated, it progresses to secondary syphilis, marked by a characteristic skin rash — rough, reddish, and often spreading across the palms of the hands and soles of the feet — alongside fever, sore throat, and swollen glands, typically 4 to 10 weeks after the initial sore appears.

If still untreated, the infection enters a latent stage that can last years or even decades with no visible signs at all, before tertiary syphilis develops in 15 to 30% of untreated cases, sometimes 10 to 30 years after the original infection, causing damage to the heart, brain, and nervous system. Anyone tracking related infectious disease patterns internationally may also want to compare these figures against syphilis statistics in the US, which show a broadly similar four-stage clinical pattern despite differing national notification rates.

Syphilis Treatment and Prevention in Australia 2026

Source: Medscape clinical reporting; ASHM Syphilis Guidance for Primary Care; Internal Medicine Journal, 2026.

Treatment for syphilis remains straightforward in principle — a single injection of benzathine benzylpenicillin cures early-stage infection — but a persistent global shortage of this formulation has complicated care delivery across Australia and forced clinicians toward alternative regimens in some cases. On the prevention side, doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis, known as Doxy-PEP, has emerged as one of the most promising tools, cutting the combined risk of syphilis and chlamydia by as much as 90% when a single dose is taken within 72 hours of sex.

Pregnancy care has also shifted meaningfully in response to the congenital syphilis crisis, with New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, and South Australia now recommending repeated universal screening at multiple points in pregnancy rather than testing only women considered high-risk. Alongside these clinical measures, broader public health messaging continues to stress condom use and regular testing, an approach that echoes the wider push toward reducing preventable disease burden reflected in crime statistics Australia, where community-level intervention has similarly driven measurable improvement over time.

COVID-19 Impact and Elimination Outlook for Syphilis in Australia 2026

Source: Open Forum Infectious Diseases modelling study; Kirby Institute; medRxiv spatial dynamics analysis, 2026.

The COVID-19 pandemic left an uneven mark on syphilis transmission across Australia. Interrupted time-series analysis shows that major cities experienced a 60% increase in mean annual notifications comparing the pre-COVID period with the pandemic years, while remote areas saw a sharper 91% rise, since urban lockdown measures had little practical effect on transmission in communities where movement and healthcare access were already constrained. This divergence helps explain why national modelling now treats urban and remote outbreaks as separate epidemics requiring separate solutions.

Looking ahead, mathematical modelling suggests real cause for cautious optimism: if annual testing coverage can be scaled to 60%, infectious syphilis prevalence could fall to around 0.15% by 2026, and the probability of eliminating the disease entirely by 2044 would jump from a baseline of 19% to over 90%. That would also cut the projected elimination timeline from 15 years down to as little as 9 years, turning what is currently Australia’s most significant sexually transmitted infection crisis into a manageable, closing chapter of public health history.

Disclaimer: This research report is compiled from publicly available sources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or reliability of the information. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions, losses, or damages of any kind arising from the use of this report.

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