News

The congress was a joint meeting between the IUSTI Asia Pacific, the New Zealand Sexual Health Society, and the Australasian Sexual Health Alliance. Over 400 delegates attended the congress over three days. Associate Professor Deborah Williamson, Ms Vensa De Petra and I represented the Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory (MDU PHL) at the conference.

The theme of the congress was the proverb ‘He muka nō te taura whiri’; ‘Many strands make up one rope’.  Bringing together experts in the many strands of sexual, reproductive, and public health, the congress covered multidisciplinary plenary topics such as:

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Asia Pacific region;
• Social & behavioural research;
• Advocacy programs;
• Clinical diagnostics & research;
• Epidemiology & Public Health; and
• Prevention strategies & education programs.

There were a few presentations that were of particular interest to me during my attendance at the congress. The first was from A/Prof Deborah Williamson (MDU PHL), who presented on ‘Dissecting STI Transmission Using Genomics’.  In this presentation, A/Prof Williamson described how genomics has been utilised as an effective tool in understanding the epidemiology of STIs, within both key target populations and the wider community.  DNA sequencing was used to determine links between the high numbers of reported Shigellosis cases transmitted by sexual contact within the MSM population in Victoria, Australia, which poses the question of whether Shigellosis should be considered an emerging STI.

Professor Rebecca Guy (Kirby Institute, UNSW) gave a presentation entitled ‘Sustainability of Point-of-Care (POC) testing for Sexually Transmissible Infections in remote communities in Australia: Transition from trial to program’.  This presentation described the upscale of a NHMRC funded trial to set up POC testing for Gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia using the Cepheid GeneXpert in 12 remote Indigenous communities across three states (SA, WA and QLD). The trial resulted in improvements in the operational performance of the local clinics and an increase in the number of clients treated within a set time period.  Phase 2 of the trial will see the project upscaled to more than 30 remote clinics across the three states.

Associate Professor Catriona Bradshaw (Melbourne Sexual Health Centre) gave a fascinating presentation entitled ‘Global Trends in Antimicrobial Resistance and Implications for Treatment Strategies for M. genitalium’.  A meta-analysis of global trends has found macrolide and quinolone resistance in Mycoplasma genitalium to be significantly high, particularly in the Western Pacific region (approximately 39% macrolide resistance and 15% quinolone resistance).  Sequential treatment with doxycycline and the use of antimicrobial resistance assays has assisted in effective patient treatment.  There was discussion around implementing more effective treatment strategies, such as reducing the use azithromycin, and introducing second line antimicrobials within combination therapy.

Overall I enjoyed attending the congress and was impressed by the wide range of topics presented on during the various plenary sessions.  The congress also provided me with a valuable opportunity to meet and network with other scientists, clinicians and researchers in the field of sexual health. I also met representatives from manufacturers of clinical assays, including molecular Point-of-Care test devices.

I would like to thank the Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory (MDU PHL) for the opportunity to attend this meeting.

An official post congress report with key findings and links to research topics and presentations is available online here.