The number of men who have sex with men diagnosed with HIV in the Australian state of Victoria has risen nearly 131% in six years, new figures show. Overall, there was a 39% increase in the total number of people diagnosed with the virus across Australia between 1999 and 2005, according to the research published in the CSIRO's Sexual Health journal. A team of university academics and government officials said that the rising number of sexually transmitted infections and falling condom use could be behind the increases, reports The Australian. "Recent increases in annual numbers of HIV diagnoses in Australia underline the continuing need for HIV-prevention programs, particularly among men having male to male sex," the researchers said. In Queensland, the number of gay men diagnosed with HIV grew by 55% over the five-year period. But NSW- which has the highest rate of HIV diagnoses- showed a relatively small increase of just 8%.