title: Follow-up, treatment, and reinfection rates among asymptomatic chlamydia trachomatis cases in general practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Adequate treatment and follow-up of patients is essential to the success of a screening programme for Chlamydia trachomatis. There has been a lack of data on follow-up, confirmation of infections, and reinfection rates among asymptomatic patients in general practice.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  7b study the rates of diagnostic confirmation of C trachomatis infection, successful treatment, and reinfection one year after cases were detected in a screening programme for asymptomatic infections.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective cohort study
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen general practices in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and twenty-four patients with asymptomatic C trachomatis infections were requested to provide a cervical or urethral swab and a urine specimen, for the purpose of diagnostic confirmation before being treated. One year after the first screening, all of the patients were invited for a second screening. All samples were tested using the ligase chain reaction (Abbott Laboratories, Chicago, USA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 124 patients, 110 (89%) attended the scheduled appointment for diagnostic confirmation and treatment; 92 (84%) of them were confirmed to be positive and received treatment. At the second screening a year later, none of the 56 patients who had received treatment and who had been screened a second time were reinfected.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  No asymptomatic patients werefound to have reinfections with C trachomatis one year after diagnostic confirmation and treatment. This underlines the effectiveness of the screening and treatment strategy
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University Hospital, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherland.
authors.forename: Irene G M
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: van Valkengoed
authors.forename: Servaas A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Morré
authors.forename: Adriaan J C
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: van den Brule
authors.forename: Chris J L M
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.forename: Lex M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Bouter
authors.forename: Jacques Th M
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: van Eijk
authors.forename: A Joan P
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Boeke
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012008:Recurrence