Inadequacy of current guidelines for sexually transmitted infections

	Tweet

Adolescent girls reveal alarmingly high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) which remain largely undetected by recommended screening guidelines. A study in Brazil, reported in the open access journal BMC Medicine, has shown that the syndromic approaches for screening and treating chlamydia and gonorrhoea are woefully inadequate.

Maria de Fátima C. Alves and a team of researchers from the Federal Universities of Goiás and Minas Gerais and the Family Health Program, Brazil, investigated chlamydia and gonorrhoea infections among sexually-active girls, aged 15-19 years in a socially-deprived region of the city of Goiânia. They discovered that the frequency of chlamydial infection was particularly high (14.5%).

The researchers compared screening methods recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Brazilian Ministry of Health against definitive laboratory methods. They attempted to diagnose infection using the WHO risk assessment score - a questionnaire concerning sexual practices, reproductive life and gynaecological symptoms - and a gynaecological examination. Disturbingly, they found that only 32% of women with a confirmed infection were correctly identified using the WHO risk assessment. The gynaecological examination fared slightly better with a maximum sensitivity of 43.5%. The authors report, “The low sensitivity of the risk assessment score should be of major public health concern and implies that it should not be used as a screening tool or a diagnostic test among asymptomatic or poorly symptomatic women”. 

Alves notes “These results are worrying. It is well-known that STIs increase the likelihood of HIV transmission therefore the control of STIs is imperative, not only because of the damaging nature of chlamydia and gonorrhoea to young women, but also because of their relationship with HIV.”

The authors conclude, “The development of rapid and less costly tests for chlamydia and gonorrhoea diagnosis in resource-poor public health services are urgently needed as are studies regarding the prevalence of infection in other regions of Brazil”. The results of this study should convince policy makers in Brazil to devise other strategies for controlling STIs in adolescents.

###

Notes to Editors:

1. Lack of utility of risk score and gynecological examination for screening for sexually transmitted infections in sexually active adolescents
Eleuse MB Guimarães, Mark DC Guimarães, Maria Aparecida S Vieira, Nádia M Bontempo, Mirian SS Seixas, Mônica SD Garcia, Lyana ES Daud, Rejane LM Côrtes and Maria de Fátima C Alves
BMC Medicine (in press)

During embargo, article available here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/imedia/8612860622564834_article.pdf?random=685300

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central’s open access policy.

Article citation and URL available on request at on the day of publication.

2. BMC Medicine publishes original research articles, technical advances and study protocols in any area of medical science or clinical practice. To be appropriate for BMC Medicine, articles need to be of special importance and broad interest. BMC Medicine (ISSN 1741-7015) is indexed/tracked/covered by PubMed, MEDLINE, BIOSIS, CAS, Scopus, EMBASE, Thomson Reuters (ISI) and Google Scholar.

3. BioMed Central is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.

Contact: Charlotte Webber

44-020-763-19980
BioMed Central

RELATED STORIES:
Testing for genital herpes may reduce transmission   All types of sexual activity carry some STD risk   Test gets almost 1 in 5 syphilis cases wrong   Gonorrhea linked to male bladder cancer risk   Prenatal syphilis screening rates: Are they being accurately reported?   New challenges for diagnosis of bacterial STIs   1 in 4 Teenage Girls Has a Sexually Transmitted Infection   Syphilis outbreak may be sign of re-emergence   Research findings may speed the development of vaccines for Chlamydia and other STDs   Sexually transmitted diseases go up in Alaska   Genital wart virus may raise men’s risk of HIV   Young Women Skipping Chlamydia Tests   Doctors urge HPV vaccine for men and women   Chlamydia screening sub par in young US women   Higher HIV risk in black gay men linked to partner choice, risk perception

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]