Effects of partner notification on reducing gonorrhea incidence rate.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to estimate the effectiveness of partner notification (PN) by linking measures of PN with the gonorrhea incidence rate in New York State exclusive of New York City.


METHODS
Gonorrhea cases were identified from the Communicable Disease Confidential Case Reports system. Case interview data were obtained from the case management database. Gonorrhea incidence data and interview data were aggregated from individual records and then linked at the county level.


RESULTS
From 1992 to 2002, 100,756 gonorrhea cases were reported and 37% were interviewed. A total of 34,807 partners were elicited from 37,393 index cases: 18,291 (52.5%) partners sought medical evaluation, 10,159 (29.2%) received preventive treatment, and 7,474 (21.5%) were infected and treated. The gonorrhea incidence rate was inversely correlated with the percent of partners given preventive treatment and positively related to the percent of infected partners.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study adds new evidence that PN is an effective mechanism to detect new cases and interrupt disease transmission within communities.
Du
Ping
P
Bureau of Sexually Transmitted Disease Control, Division of Epidemiology, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY 12237, USA. pwd02@health.state.ny.us
Coles
F Bruce
FB
Gerber
Todd
T
McNutt
Louise-Anne
LA
D016358:Contact Tracing; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006069:Gonorrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology