PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Ward, H AU - Alexander, S AU - Carder, C AU - Dean, G AU - French, P AU - Ivens, D AU - Ling, C AU - Paul, J AU - Tong, W AU - White, J AU - Ison, C A TI - The prevalence of lymphogranuloma venereum infection in men who have sex with men: results of a multicentre case finding study AID - 10.1136/sti.2008.035311 DP - 2009 Jun 01 TA - Sexually Transmitted Infections PG - 173--175 VI - 85 IP - 3 4099 - http://sti.bmj.com/content/85/3/173.short 4100 - http://sti.bmj.com/content/85/3/173.full SO - Sex Transm Infect2009 Jun 01; 85 AB - Objective: To determine the prevalence of lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) and non-LGV associated serovars of urethral and rectal Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) infection in men who have sex with men (MSM). Design: Multicentre cross-sectional survey. Setting: Four genitourinary medicine clinics in the United Kingdom from 2006–7. Subjects: 4825 urethral and 6778 rectal samples from consecutive MSM attending for sexual health screening. Methods: Urethral swabs or urine and rectal swabs were tested for CT using standard nucleic acid amplification tests. Chlamydia-positive specimens were sent to the reference laboratory for serovar determination. Main outcome: Positivity for both LGV and non-LGV associated CT serovars; proportion of cases that were symptomatic. Results: The positivity (with 95% confidence intervals) in rectal samples was 6.06% (5.51% to 6.66%) for non-LGV CT and 0.90% (0.69% to 1.16%) for LGV; for urethral samples 3.21% (2.74% to 3.76%) for non-LGV CT and 0.04% (0.01% to 0.16%) for LGV. The majority of LGV was symptomatic (95% of rectal, one of two urethral cases); non-LGV chlamydia was mostly symptomatic in the urethra (68%) but not in the rectum (16%). Conclusions: Chlamydial infections are common in MSM attending for sexual health screening, and the majority are non-LGV associated serovars. We did not identify a large reservoir of asymptomatic LGV in the rectum or urethra. Testing for chlamydia from the rectum and urethra should be included for MSM requesting a sexual health screen, but serovar-typing is not indicated in the absence of symptoms. We have yet to identify the source of most cases of LGV in the UK.