Wednesday, February 16, 2005 Updated at 9:10 PM EST
Associated Press
Seattle — People with chlamydia or gonorrhea are supposed to tell past sexual partners about their diagnosis and urge them to get treatment.
A new study says giving the patients medicine to pass on to their possibly infected sexual partners works even better.
“It decreases those patients' risk of being reinfected, and increases their partners' chance of being treated,” said lead study author Dr. Matthew Golden, acting director of the STD Control Program for Seattle and King County Public Health.
The study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, tracked 1,860 patients with gonorrhea or chlamydia in the Seattle area. Half were told to contact their current and former sex partners and tell them to get treatment — the standard procedure.
The other half were given antibiotics to give to their sex partners. No medical exam was required for the partners.
The gonorrhea patients who got medication to give directly to their partners were 73 per cent less likely to be infected at their three-month checkup, compared to the control group, and chlamydia patients were 15 per cent less likely to be infected.
Chlamydia and gonorrhea are two of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. About 2.8 million Americans get infected with chlamydia each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than 700,000 get new gonorrheal infections each year.
Associated Press
Seattle — People with chlamydia or gonorrhea are supposed to tell past sexual partners about their diagnosis and urge them to get treatment.
A new study says giving the patients medicine to pass on to their possibly infected sexual partners works even better.
“It decreases those patients' risk of being reinfected, and increases their partners' chance of being treated,” said lead study author Dr. Matthew Golden, acting director of the STD Control Program for Seattle and King County Public Health.
The study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, tracked 1,860 patients with gonorrhea or chlamydia in the Seattle area. Half were told to contact their current and former sex partners and tell them to get treatment — the standard procedure.
The other half were given antibiotics to give to their sex partners. No medical exam was required for the partners.
The gonorrhea patients who got medication to give directly to their partners were 73 per cent less likely to be infected at their three-month checkup, compared to the control group, and chlamydia patients were 15 per cent less likely to be infected.
Chlamydia and gonorrhea are two of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. About 2.8 million Americans get infected with chlamydia each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than 700,000 get new gonorrheal infections each year.
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