Cases of HIV in Canberra have spiked in recent years, with notifications surging 41 per cent in just a year, a major health report has revealed.
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The ACT Chief Health Officer's 2016 report shows there were 24 notifications of the disease in 2013, compared with 17 the previous year.
"It is unclear if this increase was due to an increase in the incidence of HIV infection in the community or from increased testing of at-risk populations," the report said.
"This increase is consistent with national trends".
There were 45 HIV diagnoses between 2012 and 2014, and almost 90 per cent were in men.
The median age of a diagnosed person was 37 and three quarters of people said they were exposed during sexual contact with a person of the same sex.
ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Paul Kelly said there had been an increase in HIV infections in the ACT in recent years, which was in line with other countries and around Australia.
"There is a real need for us to really look at what we're doing in relation to safe sex practices," he said.
Assistant health minister Meegan Fitzharris said the rise in HIV infections was concerning.
"We are not alone. We know there is national work under way and we have provided additional funding in this year's budget to increase awareness, to increase education and also to increase services to people suffering from HIV or other bloodborne illnesses as well," she said.
In terms of other sexually transmitted infections, there were 2486 notifications of chlamydia between 2012 and 2014, mostly in women.
There were 248 cases of gonorrhoea notified in the same period, almost all in men, and seven cases of newly acquired hepatitis B, a vaccine-preventable virus.
