Treatment practices for chlamydial infection in New Zealand

Aims. To identify prescribing and treatment practices for chlamydial infect ion in New Zealand. Methods. Postal survey to doctors and nurses at all sexual health, family p lanning, student and youth health centres, and randomly selected general pr actitioners. Results. There was considerable variation in treatment regimes used for chl amydial infection with few respondents treating in accordance with internat ional guidelines regarding dose, frequency, and duration of treatment. Doxy cycline (88.4%) was most commonly used to treat uncomplicated chlamydial in fection in non-pregnant patients. Most respondents (70.2%) stipulated doxyc ycline for longer durations than the seven day regimen international guidel ines recommend, with doxycycline 100 mg twice a day for ten days most frequ ently specified. Among the 259 respondents who would treat pregnant women w ith erythromycin, 51 different treatment regimens were specified, and 51.7% recorded regimens less than that recommended by international guidelines. When treating a patient presumptively, the majority of respondents tested f or chlamydial infection. In contrast to other respondents, sexual health cl inic staff rarely provide patients with a prescription for a patient's part ner without seeing the partner. Conclusions. Standardised treatment guidelines are required for patients di agnosed with chlamydial infection. Guidelines should include recommendation s for the treatment of partners, and encourage the laboratory confirmation of diagnosis.