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Sexual Health Research

Sydney Local Health District has the highest rates of gonorrhoea, infectious syphilis and newly diagnosed HIV in NSW, and the highest rate of chlamydia in metropolitan NSW.  The District's Sexual Health Service aims to reduce the high rates of these sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in our local community and improve the health of individuals and communities living with, or at risk of, STIs, including HIV. 

We are involved in a number of projects which monitor patterns of STIs, including HIV, throughout Australia. This research has led to a greater understanding of who is at highest risk of STIs and HIV and the reasons for this, allowing us to better target and plan education, prevention and clinical services for the residents of the District.

We are also involved in several collaborative studies to better understand and improve the sexual health and wellbeing of gay men, people living with HIV and other Australian populations. These include:

  • ACCESS (Australian Collaboration for Coordinated Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance of Sexually Transmissible Infections and Blood-borne Viruses) is investigating rates and risk factors for a broad range of STIs among Australians attending sexual health and other clinical services
  • ARCHIVE (The Age-related Clonal Haematopoiesis in an HIV Evaluation Cohort) is monitoring and observing people living over the age of 55 for up to 10 years to evaluate differences between those living with, and without, HIV in terms of their genetic make-up and other factors associated with aging.

Our participation in two world-first clinical trials

The GoGoVax Study is a world-first study being conducted now, using a licensed meningococcal B vaccine to prove if the vaccine can also prevent gonorrhoea. Gonorrhoea (also called gono or the clap), is a global public health problem with between 87 to 106 million yearly cases, with increasing multi-drug resistance. In Australia, gonorrhoea infection rates have almost doubled over the past five years, with the most significant increase among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. People who enrol in the study receive two doses of the vaccine or the placebo over three months and then are followed for two years. At the end of the two years, everyone in the study receives the vaccine.

The Syphilaxis Study will test whether taking a daily antibiotic reduces or prevents bacterial STI acquisition in sexually active gay and bisexual men and transgender people, and whether they find taking a daily antibiotic for this purpose acceptable.

Our Research Team

Professor David Templeton Head of Department and Head of Research
Dr Rachel Burdon Staff Specialist
Dr Rachael Thomas Staff Specialist
Linda Garton Study Coordinator and Clinical Nurse Consultant
Loretta Healey Senior Counsellor
Thomas Doyle Study Coordinator and Clinical Nurse Specialist
Ashlee Jackson Study Coordinator and Clinical Nurse Specialist
Dr Mary Stewart PhD Candidate. Thesis title: Acute Sexual Assault Presentations (ASAP) study. Co-supervisor Professor David Templeton.

Selected Grants

Amount awarded Grant and project details
$55,000 Ramsay Research Foundation, 2022-2023

Acute Sexual Assault Presentations

Investigator: Stewart, M (PhD supervisor Templeton DJ)

Our Publications

2023

Burdon RM, Atefi D, Rana J, Parasuraman A, Lee AS, Nield B. Sustained Mpox Proctitis with Primary Syphilis and HIV Seroconversion, Australia. Emerg Infect Dis. 2023 Mar;29(3):647-649. doi: 10.3201/eid2903.221845. Epub 2023 Jan 26. PMID: 36703251; PMCID: PMC9973693.
Callander D, McManus H, Gray RT, Grulich AE, Carr A, Hoy J, Donovan B, Fairley CK, Holt M, Templeton DJ, Liaw ST, McMahon JH, Asselin J, Petoumenos K, Hellard M, Pedrana A, Elliott J, Keen P, Costello J, Keane R, Kaldor J, Stoové M, Guy R. HIV treatment-as-prevention and its effect on incidence of HIV among cisgender gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in Australia: a 10-year longitudinal cohort study. Lancet HIV. 2023 Jun;10(6):e385-e393. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3018(23)00050-4. Epub 2023 Apr 15. Erratum in: Lancet HIV. 2023 May 12;: PMID: 37068498.
Cornelisse VJ, Heath-Paynter D, Delpech V, Read P, Apostolellis A, Medland NA, MacIntyre CR, Giola M, Kidd M. How Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand avoided large-scale mpox (formerly monkeypox) outbreaks in 2022-2023. Intern Med J. 2023 Oct;53(10):1732-1738. doi: 10.1111/imj.16236. PMID: 37859543.
Cornelisse VJ, Kearley JJM, Vargas Castillo J, Macharg L, McLaughlin VA, Jack SJ, Swift C. Case study: breakthrough mpox infection in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia after completed two-dose course of subcutaneous modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA-BN) vaccines. Sex Health. 2023 Dec;20(6):585-587. doi: 10.1071/SH23139. PMID: 37852607.
Cornelisse VJ, Ong JJ, Ryder N, Ooi C, Wong A, Kenchington P, Giola M, Donovan B, Dean JA, Molina JM, Medland NA. Interim position statement on doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (Doxy-PEP) for the prevention of bacterial sexually transmissible infections in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand - the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM). Sex Health. 2023 Apr;20(2):99-104. doi: 10.1071/SH23011. PMID: 36927481.
Dharan NJ, Jin F, Vaccher S, Bavinton B, Yeung B, Guy R, Carr A, Zablotska I, Amin J, Read P, Templeton DJ, Ooi C, Martin SJ, Ryder N, Smith DE, McNulty A, Brown K, Price K, Holden J, Grulich AE; Expanded PrEP Implementation in Communities in New South Wales (EPIC-NSW) research group. Characteristics of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Seroconversions in a Large Prospective Implementation Cohort Study of Oral HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis in Men Who Have Sex with Men (EPIC-NSW). Clin Infect Dis. 2023 Feb 8;76(3):e622-e628. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac660. PMID: 35982613.
Di Ciaccio PR, Van Leeuwen MT, Amin J, Vajdic CM, McGregor S, Poynten IM, Templeton DJ, Law M, Grulich AE, Polizzotto MN, Jin F. Second Primary Cancers in People With HIV/AIDS: A National Data Linkage Study of Incidence and Risk Factors. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2023 May 1;93(1):25-33. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000003172. PMID: 36804500; PMCID: PMC10484748.
Gray J, Prestage G, Jin F, Phanuphak N, Friedman RK, Fairley CK, Kelleher A, Templeton DJ, Zablotska-Manos I, Hoy J, McNulty A, Baker D, Brown G, Grulich A, Bavinton B; Opposites Attract study group. Agreements, Behaviour, and Change: Sex Outside the Relationship in Male HIV-negative Partners in HIV Serodiscordant Relationships in Australia, Brazil, and Thailand. AIDS Behav. 2023 Sep;27(9):3098-3108. doi: 10.1007/s10461-023-04030-2. Epub 2023 Mar 14. PMID: 36917425; PMCID: PMC10386966.
Healey LM, Hutchinson JL, Pfeiffer MN, Garton L, Hatten B, Dobbie M, Simpson L, Templeton DJ. The challenge of providing medical follow-up for sexual assault victims: can we predict who will attend? A retrospective cross-sectional study. Sex Health. 2023 Oct;20(5):475-477. doi: 10.1071/SH22180. PMID: 37599505.
Heron JE, McManus H, Vickers T, Ryan K, Wright E, Carter A, Stoove M, Asselin J, Grulich A, Donovan B, Guy R, Varma R, Chen M, Ryder N, Lewis DA, Templeton DJ, O'Connor CC, Gracey DM; ACCESS Collaboration. Renal impairment associated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate for antiretroviral therapy and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis: An observational cohort study. PLoS One. 2023 Feb 24;18(2):e0280339. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280339. PMID: 36827395; PMCID: PMC9955644.
MacGibbon J, Cornelisse VJ, Smith AKJ, Broady TR, Hammoud MA, Bavinton BR, Heath-Paynter D, Vaughan M, Wright EJ, Holt M. Mpox (monkeypox) knowledge, concern, willingness to change behaviour, and seek vaccination: results of a national cross-sectional survey. Sex Health. 2023 Oct;20(5):403-410. doi: 10.1071/SH23047. PMID: 37611539.
Ong JJ, Bourne C, Dean JA, Ryder N, Cornelisse VJ, Murray S, Kenchington P, Moten A, Gibbs C, Maunsell S, Davis T, Michaels J, Medland NA. Australian sexually transmitted infection (STI) management guidelines for use in primary care 2022 update. Sex Health. 2023 Feb;20(1):1-8. doi: 10.1071/SH22134. PMID: 36356948.
Phillips S, Cornall AM, Molano M, Jin F, Roberts JM, Farnsworth A, Hillman RJ, Templeton DJ, Poynten IM, Garland SM, Fairley CK, Murray GL, Tabrizi SN, Grulich AE, Machalek DA. Performance of Human Papillomavirus Attribution Algorithms to Predict Causative Genotypes in Anal High-Grade Lesions. J Infect Dis. 2023 Jun 15;227(12):1407-1416. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiac503. PMID: 36591643.
Traeger MW, Harney BL, Sacks-Davis R, van Santen DK, Cornelisse VJ, Wright EJ, Hellard ME, Doyle JS, Stoové MA. Incidence and Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Among HIV-Negative Gay and Bisexual Men Using HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP): A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2023 Aug 1;10(8):ofad401. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofad401. PMID: 37593532; PMCID: PMC10428087.
Weerasinghe MN, Ooi C, Kotsiou G, Cornelisse VJ, Painter A. Breakthrough mpox despite two-dose vaccination. Med J Aust. 2023 Oct 2;219(7):295-296. doi: 10.5694/mja2.52076. Epub 2023 Sep 3. PMID: 37660327.

Our Presentations

2023

Callander D, Cook T, Asselin J, Templeton DJ, Menon A, Meng Soo CT, Wilcox J, Bell C, Fairley CK, Stoove M, Hellard M, Cornelisse V, Guy R, Donovan B. Decreasing incidence of HIV but more variable increasing and stable incidence of sexually transmissible infections among trans and gender non-binary people in Australia: a 10-year national study. AusPath Conference 2023, Melbourne.
Huang Z, Lim YL, Thomas R, Sharp N. A new intrauterine device (IUD) service for targeted vulnerable populations groups in a publicly funded sexual health service in Sydney, NSW. Australasian Sexual and Reproductive Health Conference 2023, Sydney.
Jiamsakul A, Rupasinghe D, Woolley I, Choi JY, Templeton DJ, Widhani A, Petoumenos K, Tanuma J, on behalf of the TREAT Asia HIV Observational Database (TAHOD) and the Australian HIV Observational Database (AHOD) of IeDEA Asia-Pacific. HIV treatment outcomes after 10 years on ART in the TREAT Asia Observational Database (TAHOD) and Australian HIV Observational Database (AHOD). Asia-Pacific AIDS & Co-Infections Conference 2023, Singapore.
Jin F, Poynten IM, Hillman RJ, Law C, Molano Luque M, Fairley CK, Garland SM, Templeton DJ, Grulich AE, Roberts J; on behalf of the SPANC study team. The potential role of reflex anal cytology testing in anal cancer screening using human papillomavirus (HPV) testing in gay and bisexual men. International Anal Neoplasia Conference 2023, Puerto Rico.
Molano M, Machalek DA, Roberts JM, Murray G, Law C, Poynten IM, Cornall A, Templeton DJ, Hillman RJ, Haqshenas G, Guzman P, Phillips S, Grulich AE, Garland SM, Jin F, on behalf of The SPANC Study Team. Characteristics of confirmed persistent and non-persistent anal high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions in gay and bisexual men.  35th International Papillomavirus Conference 2023, Washington DC, USA.
Molano M, Machalek DA, Roberts JM, Murray G, Law C, Poynten IM, Cornall A, Templeton DJ, Hillman RJ, Haqshenas G, Guzman P, Phillips S, Grulich AE, Garland SM, Jin F, on behalf of The SPANC Study Team. Does CADM1, MAL AND miR124-2 host dna methylation from anal swabs predict lesion grade and persistence? 35th International Papillomavirus Conference 2023, Washington DC, USA.