Chlamydia trachomatis screening in young people in Merseyside

Objectives. To evaluate the acceptability to young people of proactive Chla mydia trachomatis (CT) information and urine test. To discover the extent o f CT infection and the practical implications for completing treatment and partner notification. Design. Prospective screening with sexual health questionnaire. Setting. Three family planning clinics for young people in Liverpool and So uth Sefton. Participants. Nine hundred and five women and 53 men had urine tests and an swered the questionnaire. All aged 20 years or under attending the clinics were given information about CT and safer sex. Main outcome measures. The acceptability of proactive information and scree ning for CT using a urine Lest. Prevalence of CT infection. The time and ef fort incurred informing and managing those testing positive. Results. The information and urine test were readily, accepted Prevalence o f CT was 8.5% in women and 5. 7% in men. More than three-quarters of those testing positive were treated but it took much time and effort, as follow-u p attendance was poor: Conclusions. The prevalence of CT was high in this population. Young people participated in screening readily. They are interested in this health issu e, but it was difficult to hold their attention long enough to complete the process of treatment and contact tracing. Completing this successfully eit her needs a huge input of resources or a new approach. These results have l ed to the piloting of an outreach health adviser administering treatment an d carrying out partner notification at the screening site. Some of the ques tions raised by the CMO have been addressed.