PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Irene G M van Valkengoed
AU  - Servaas A Morré
AU  - Adriaan J C van den Brule
AU  - Chris J L M Meijer
AU  - Lex M Bouter
AU  - Jacques Th M van Eijk
AU  - A Joan P Boeke
TI  - Follow-up, treatment, and reinfection rates among asymptomatic chlamydia trachomatis cases in general practice.
DP  - 2002 Aug 01
TA  - British Journal of General Practice
PG  - 623--627
VI  - 52
IP  - 481
4099  - http://bjgp.org/content/52/481/623.short
4100  - http://bjgp.org/content/52/481/623.full
SO  - Br J Gen Pract2002 Aug 01; 52
AB  - 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. AIM: 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. DESIGN OF STUDY: Prospective cohort study SETTING: Fifteen general practices in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. METHOD: 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. CONCLUSION: 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