Contact tracing for genital Chlamydia trachomatis in a Swedish county.
BACKGROUND
Contact tracing is one of the measures used to control genital Chlamydia trachomatis infections.


OBJECTIVE
To assess important variables of contact tracing in an everyday clinical setting.


METHODS
Patients reported according to the STD Act were studied in a prospective, consecutive county-based study.


RESULTS
A total of 149 patients had a mean of 2.2 partners. The social worker's patients reported significantly more partners than the physicians' patients. The median number of patients at the 26 involved institutions was 3. Treatment without a prior examination was prescribed to 4% of the partners; 95% of all notified partners were examined, and a majority of them were chlamydia-infected.


CONCLUSIONS
The requirements of the STD Act in Sweden are being followed reasonably well by health providers responsible for contact tracing, although an experienced social worker seems to get better results.
Department of Communicable Disease Control, Blekinge Hospital, Karlskrona, Sweden.
R
R
Eitrem
M
M
Erenius
A
A
Meeuwisse
D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000635:transmission*; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis; D016358:Contact Tracing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D013548:Sweden