Home Samples May Help Reduce Prevalence Of Chlamydia

(Efficacy of home sampling for screening of Chlamydia trachomatis: randomised study)

Urogenital infections caused by Chlamydia are common and may cause female infertility and ectopic pregnancy. These infections are very treatable but as Chlamydia often causes no symptoms, they may remain undetected. In this week's BMJ, Dr Lars Østergaard et al from Denmark suggest that if patients can collect a sample themselves at home (rather than seeing a doctor) and mail it directly to a laboratory, then this may result in improved screening rates and thus more infections being detected.

Contact:
Dr Lars Østergaard, Senior Registrar, Department of Infectious Diseases, Aarhus University, Denmark segalt@dadlnet.dk