Most of the chlamydia and gonorrhoea was in the highly populated Metro North and Metro South areas around Brisbane. Gonorrhoea and chlamydia cases were lower so far in 2018 compared with this time in 2017, but notifications of all three STIs were higher this year than the five-year mean. Dr Wendell Rosevear, from the Stonewall Medical Centre which specialises in sexual health, said STIs were increasing due to less use of condoms and more anonymous and casual sex. "I think that now people are capable of having a compartmentalised life, where they separate their sexual lives from their friendships, so they'll have multiple partners," he said. "People are driven to validate their self-worth by getting as many sexual partners as they can - not that I'm being judgmental about that.

"The need to have as much anonymous sex as possible means that people have multiple partners even in a day, up to 17 in a day." Dr Rosevear said many apps available now, such as Tinder, offered easy access to anonymous and instant sex. Loading "People only want it within five minutes, if it's not available in a short time frame, they're not interested, so it leads to multiple partners, so the more partners you have, the more risk [of STIs]," he said. Dr Rosevear said increased use of condoms and testing was important.

"Most people probably only test once every three months but it doesn't mean that three-month test will cover what happened last night," he said. "I think we should have a fashion show for condoms to make them fashionable again, I just haven't found any models to wear them yet." A 2017 Australian study of 2438 heterosexual men using an online dating service found only 35 per cent used condoms as their contraceptive method the last time they had sex. Griffith University Associate Professor Kate Seib said there were several reasons for the increasing rates of chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis, which included better diagnoses, increased travel and online dating apps.

A Queensland Health spokeswoman said there was an increase in notifications of the three STIs across Australia and globally. "There is no single reason for the rise in STI notifications in Queensland or Australia, however, it can partially be explained by the fact testing for STIs has increased," she said. "Misconceptions around how STIs are contracted is also understood to be one of the contributing factors." Information collected by Queensland Health recently suggested only 14 per cent of sexually active young Queenslanders considered themselves at risk of an STI. Queensland Health has launched the biggest statewide sexual health campaign in a decade, Stop the Rise of STIs, with the aim of encouraging more young Queenslanders to get tested.

What are the symptoms of chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis? Chlamydia often does not have symptoms but some women experience a change in discharge, crampy pain in the lower abdomen, menstrual changes and pain while passing urine, while men may notice discharge, pain while urinating and swollen testes. Almost 80 per cent of people diagnosed with chlamydia in Queensland are between the ages of 15 and 29. In women, chlamydia can cause fallopian tubes to become blocked with scar tissue causing fertility issues, and babies born to mothers with untreated chlamydia may develop eye or lung infections. Gonorrhoea often has no symptoms but women may experience crampy pain, a change in vaginal secretions, pain while urinating and spotting between periods, while men may notice a yellow discharge, pain while urinating and swollen testes.