ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Repeat chlamydia screening by mail, San Francisco

P J Bloomfield¹, K C Steiner², C K Kent² and J D Klausner²

¹ Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
² San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA, USA

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Jeffrey D Klausner, MD, MPH, STD Prevention and Control Services, 1360 Mission Street, Suite 401, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA;
Jeff.Klausner{at}sfdph.org

Objectives: To assess the feasibility and acceptability of home screening for repeat chlamydial infection using urine test kits sent through the mail.

Methods: A letter offering home rescreening was mailed to 399 adults who previously tested positive for chlamydia. Kits were then mailed to anyone who did not actively decline. The home testing kits contained instructions on how to collect a urine specimen and return the specimen by mail. Specimens were tested with strand displacement amplification. A short survey asked individuals their level of concern about confidentiality, safety, and privacy of mail screening.

Results: Among the 313 potential test kit recipients, 22.4% responded. Response rates were highest among homosexual and bisexual men (38.6%), people 35 years or older (34.3%), and white people (34.6%). The overall positivity rate was 3.2% (2/63). In women 18–25 years old, the positivity was 13.3% (2/15).

Conclusions: Home testing with mailed urine collection kits is feasible and an acceptable method to screen for recurrent chlamydial infection. Young women would probably benefit most because of their higher rates of reinfection and risk for sequelae.

Keywords: chlamydia; screening; recurrent infection

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Cook, R. L, Ostergaard, L., Hillier, S. L, Murray, P. J, Chang, C.-C. H, Comer, D. M, Ness, R. B, for the DAISY study team, (2007). Home screening for sexually transmitted diseases in high-risk young women: randomised controlled trial. Sex. Transm. Infect. 83: 286-291 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Eggleston, E, Turner, C F, Rogers, S M, Roman, A, Miller, W C, Villarroel, M A, Ganapathi, L (2005). Monitoring STI prevalence using telephone surveys and mailed urine specimens: a pilot test. Sex. Transm. Infect. 81: 236-238 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Ward, H, Miller, R (2003). Taking up the reins. Sex. Transm. Infect. 79: 2-2 [Full Text]