Syphilis in remote north Queensland.

The notification rate for infectious syphilis (i.e. infection of less than 2 years duration) in Queensland has remained fairly static over the last 5 years but the pattern of infection appears to be changing (Figure 1). Between 2001 and 2005, the non-Indigenous rate climbed from 1.1 to 2.0 cases per 100,000 population, while the rate in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population across the state fell from 97 to 52 cases per 100,000 population – both statistically significant but divergent trends (p<0.001).1