CHLAMYDIAL OCULAR INFECTION - EFFICACY OF PARTNER NOTIFICATION BY PATIENT REFERRAL

Records on 254 patients with chlamydial ocular infection observed over a period of 67 months at the Moorfield's Eye Hospital were reviewed r etrospectively in relation to sexual partners in the 6 months prior to diagnosis. Contactable partners were given an appointment through ind ex patients to attend our clinic. Those unable to attend were issued c ontact slips, as used by the sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic s in the United Kingdom, to attend elsewhere: 175/328 (53%) of all par tners were seen in our clinic: 161/218 (74%) of current regular partne rs compared to only 7/57 (12%) of ex-regular and 7/53 (13%) of casual partners. However, of those given appointments 175/201 (87%) attended: 161/179 (90%) of current regular, 7/14 (50%) of ex-regular and 7/8 (8 8%) of casual partners. Seventy of 328 (21%) of all partners were issu ed contact slips, of whom 47/70 (67%) were reported to have attended e lsewhere. No contact slips were returned by other clinics, indicating a failure in the contact slip system. Thirty-five of 53 (66%) of casua l, 22/57 (39%) of ex-regular and none of the current regular partners were untraceable. One hundred and five of 196 (54%) female partners we re examined, of whom 59/105 (56%) had chlamydial genital infection, 45 /105 (43%) had other genital infections and 35/105 (33%) had multiple genital infections. Seventy of 132 (53%) male partners were examined, of whom 58/70 (83%) had chlamydial or non-specific urethritis, 5/70 (7 %) had other genital infections and 4/70 (6%) had multiple genital inf ections. Partner notification is important to interrupt chlamydia tran smission. This study shows that proactive appointment-based partner no tification is effective in ensuring compliance with attendance.