Australia targets backpackers to tackle spiraling STDsPROMISCUOUS backpackers who flock to Australia, get drunk and have unprotected sex are to be targeted by health authorities in a bid to coontrol rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases.
New figures showed young international travelers were more likely to binge drink, have multiple sexual partners and not bother with condoms than the Australian residents.
An eight-year study of about 5,700 backpackers who attended the Sydney Sexual Health Centre found that a culture of sex, alcohol and partying was creating an STD crisis.
They also spread diseases such as chlamydia, genital warts and herpes to the rest of the population.
The research - which will be published in the international journal Sexually Transmitted Infections - concluded that "backpackers should be a priority population for sexual health promotion and access to services".
Researchers found that most backpackers were aged in their mid-20s and came from the U.K. or Ireland.
Female backpackers were twice as likely to binge drink as Australians, while their male counterparts were three times more likely to consume hazardous amounts of alcohol.
About half of men and 30 percent of women who traveled to Sydney also admitted to having more than two sexual partners in the previous three months.
Both backpackers and Australian residents had low rates of condom use.
Ten percent of backpackers admitted to having sex while in Thailand in the previous year, but they tended to seek help for STDs at Australia's public sexual health clinics because they are free.
According to the study, up to half of people have sex with a new partner when they travel to another country.