GENITAL CHLAMYDIAL INFECTION - DIAGNOSTIC PRACTICES OF GENERAL-PRACTITIONERS IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

Background and Objectives: There is marked underdiagnosis of genital c hlamydial infection in Victoria, Australia, and little is known about the diagnostic or treatment practices of general practitioners (GPs) f or this condition. Such information is required to develop more effect ive epidemiologic surveillance and control of this disease in Australi a. Goal of this Study: To measure indicators of knowledge and pr actic es of GPs in Melbourne in relation to their diagnosis and management o f genital chlamydial infection. Study Design: A self-administered ques tionnaire delivered by mail to a random sample of 327 Melbourne GPs. R esults: The response rate was 83%. Female doctors were significantly m ore likely to test symptomatic patients and to screen asymptomatic pat ients than were male doctors. Having a large proportion of patients in the high-risk age groups was not a reliable predictor of diagnostic p ractices. Only 49% of respondents knew how to correctly take specimens for diagnosis of chlamydial infection, and only 41% knew the disease is notifiable. Conclusion: Underdiagnosis of chlamydia is due partiall y to general practitioners having a low level of suspicion of the dise ase in their patients and to inappropriate specimen collection techniq ue. The present system of chlamydia surveillance is inadequately measu ring disease trends, and the information from this survey should be us eful in the development of medical training programs.