TY - JOUR T1 - Prevalence and characteristics of gastrointestinal infections in men who have sex with men diagnosed with rectal chlamydia infection in the UK: an ‘unlinked anonymous’ cross-sectional study JF - Sexually Transmitted Infections JO - Sex Transm Infect DO - 10.1136/sextrans-2016-053057 SP - sextrans-2016-053057 AU - Gwenda Hughes AU - Panida Silalang AU - John Were AU - Hemanti Patel AU - Tristan Childs AU - Sarah Alexander AU - Stephen Duffell AU - Cara Saxon AU - Cathy Ison AU - Holly Mitchell AU - Nigel Field AU - Claire Jenkins Y1 - 2017/03/30 UR - http://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2017/03/30/sextrans-2016-053057.abstract N2 - Introduction Gastrointestinal infections (GII) can cause serious ill health and morbidity. Although primarily transmitted through faecal contamination of food or water, transmission through sexual activity is well described, especially among men who have sex with men (MSM).Methods We investigated the prevalence of GIIs among a convenience sample of MSM who were consecutively diagnosed with rectal Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) at 12 UK genitourinary medicine clinics during 10 weeks in 2012. Residual rectal swabs were coded, anonymised and tested for Shigella, Campylobacter, Salmonella, shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli and enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) using a real-time PCR. Results were linked to respective coded and anonymised clinical and demographic data. Associations were investigated using Fisher's exact tests.Results Of 444 specimens tested, overall GII prevalence was 8.6% (95% CI 6.3% to 11.6%): 1.8% (0.9% to 3.6%) tested positive for Shigella, 1.8% (0.9% to 3.6%) for Campylobacter and 5.2% (3.5% to 7.7%) for EAEC. No specimens tested positive for Salmonella or other diarrhoeagenic E. coli pathotypes. Among those with any GII, 14/30 were asymptomatic (2/7 with Shigella, 3/6 with Campylobacter and 9/17 with EAEC). Shigella prevalence was higher in MSM who were HIV-positive (4.7% (2.1% to 10.2%) vs 0.5%(0.1% to 3.2%) in HIV-negative MSM; p=0.01).Conclusions In this small feasibility study, MSM with rectal CT appeared to be at appreciable risk of GII. Asymptomatic carriage may play a role in sexual transmission of GII. ER -