Infections missed by urethral-only screening for chlamydia or gonorrhea detection among men who have sex with men

Julia L Marcus; Kyle T Bernstein; Robert P Kohn; Sally Liska; Susan S Philip

doi:10.1097/OLQ.0b013e31822a2b2e

Infections missed by urethral-only screening for chlamydia or gonorrhea detection among men who have sex with men

Sex Transm Dis. 2011 Oct;38(10):922-4. doi: 10.1097/OLQ.0b013e31822a2b2e.

Authors

Julia L Marcus¹, Kyle T Bernstein, Robert P Kohn, Sally Liska, Susan S Philip

Affiliation

¹ STD Prevention and Control Services, San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA. julia.marcus@sfdph.org

PMID: 21934565
DOI: 10.1097/OLQ.0b013e31822a2b2e

Abstract

In a retrospective analysis of asymptomatic men who have sex with men visiting an urban municipal sexually transmitted disease clinic, 83.8% of chlamydial and gonococcal infections would have been missed by urethral screening, compared with 9.8% by screening the rectum and pharynx. Extragenital screening is critical to the provision of comprehensive sexual health services for men who have sex with men.

MeSH terms

Ambulatory Care Facilities
Asymptomatic Diseases
Chlamydia / isolation & purification*
Chlamydia Infections / diagnosis*
Chlamydia Infections / epidemiology
Chlamydia Infections / urine
Confidence Intervals
Gonorrhea / diagnosis*
Gonorrhea / epidemiology
Gonorrhea / urine
Homosexuality, Male / statistics & numerical data
Humans
Male
Neisseria gonorrhoeae / isolation & purification*
Pharynx / microbiology*
Prevalence
Rectum / microbiology*
Retrospective Studies
San Francisco / epidemiology
Sexual Behavior
Urethra / microbiology