Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and HIV-1 prevalence among five populations of womenin the Czech and Slovak Republics

Background: Five populations at risk for sexually transmitted diseases (STD s) in the Czech and Slovak Republics mere sampled, Goal: To estimate prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoea e, and HIV-1 infections. Study Design: Urine specimens were collected serially from women at a Pragu e prenatal clinic (n = 134), a Prague dermatovenerealogy clinic (n = 91), s ex workers from northern and central Bohemia (n = 35), students from a nort hern Bohemian school (n = 217), and Gypsies from Jarovnice, Slovakia (n = 1 28). These specimens were tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea using a ligase chain reaction pooling algorithm, and for HIV using an enzyme immunoassay confirmed by Western blot. Results: The prevalence of chlamydia was 2.2% (95% CI, 0.4-6.4) in the pren atal clinic, 5.5% (95% CI, 1.8-12.4) in the STD clinic, 22.9% (95% CI, 10.4 -40.1) among street sex workers, 8.2% (95% CI, 3.6-15.6) among sexually act ive female high school students, and 3.9% (95% CI, 1.3-8.9) among Gypsy wom en. Gonorrhea was found in only two populations: 2.2% (95% CI, 0.3-7.7) in the STD clinic, and 2.9% (95% CI, 0.1-14.9) among sex workers. No HIV-1 inf ection was detected. Conclusions: Urine screening was an efficient and accurate method for ident ifying groups at risk for STDs in the Czech Republic and Slovakia because s ample collection was fast and noninvasive, and potential participation bias was reduced by high acceptability.