An outreach programme for sexually transmitted infection screening in street sex workers using self-administered samples

Street sex workers represent an at-risk group of individuals who find it di fficult to access mainstream health services. This was a cross-sectional st udy of street sex workers in Melbourne, Australia using a self-administered method to detect chlamydial, gonorrhoea and trichomonas infections. Of the 81 individuals approached, 63 (78%) (95% CI: 67-86%) agreed to participate . Overall, 87% of the participants obtained their results. Of the 63 partic ipants, 53 (84%) had a past history of injecting drug use (95% CI: 73-92%), and 21 (33%) had a history of a sexually transmitted infection (STI) (95% CI: 22.0-46.3%). Neisseria gonorrhoeae was identified in 7 (11%) participan ts, Trichomonas vaginalis in 7 (11%), Chlamydia trachomatis in 1 (1.6%). No ne of the 19 (30%) participants who had been screened for an STI in the pre ceding 3 months were infected. Our results demonstrated that this method of testing for STIs was acceptable to the street sex workers, and demonstrate d a disturbingly high proportion with infections.