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Background: Chlamydia trachomatis is the commonest curable sexually transmitted infection in the UK. The prevalence is shared equally by men and women. A National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) has been introduced in England, supported by advances in testing technologies which enable non-invasive sampling methods to be used in non-healthcare settings. The NCSP tests nearly twice as many women as men and is more likely to test men in non-healthcare settings. Men are seen as an important, but difficult to reach group. Little is known about where men prefer to access testing and whether or not nontraditional settings, such as football clubs, are acceptable. Methods: 1) A national stratified random probability sample survey of men aged between 18 and 35 years resident in Great Britain, exploring attitudes to self-collected testing for Chlamydia, acceptability of venues to collect testing kits, health seeking and sexual risk behaviours. 2) Qualitative interviews with men who play amateur football. It explores the acceptability of three different, club-based, testing pathways; Health-care professional promoted; Peer-led promoted; and poster-led promoted. Results: Men are well engaged with existing health services and find selfcollected testing kits for Chlamydia highly acceptable. Healthcare settings are the most acceptable venues to access testing although sports settings are acceptable to a minority. Attitudes to testing in football clubs are influenced by factors relating to men’s characteristics, promoter characteristics and the impact of testing on time and effort involved. Conclusions: Whilst non-healthcare settings can be used to reach some men for Chlamydia testing, existing services are already well accessed and offer considerable opportunities to test more men. More should be done to ensure men are able to access testing within the context of daily living, without significantly impacting on the time needed to pursue their main interests.

The purpose of this study is to describe the determinants of STBBI related knowledge, risk behaviours, and prevalence as they relate to sexual health among incarcerated youth between 16 and 24 years of age in Manitoba. The study involved a cross-sectional questionnaire and testing for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV, and Hepatitis C among 210 male and female youth in nine provincial correctional centres. Descriptive analysis of STBBI knowledge, risk behaviours, and prevalence are presented. Potential associations between each of these sexual health outcomes and the epidemiologic context of risk are explored using univariate and multiple regression analysis. Longer incarceration history was associated with higher STBBI knowledge, higher sexual risk behaviours and higher STBBI prevalence. STBBI knowledge was associated with growing up on a reserve. Early age of initial substance use and injection drug use were found to be significantly associated with poor sexual health. Recommendations include increasing STBBI awareness using culturally appropriate, peer-led interventions, improving educational attainment, integrating sexual health education with substance use interventions inside corrections, increasing collaboration between community and corrections and improving opportunities for STBBI screening inside correctional centres.

The purpose of this study is to describe the determinants of STBBI related knowledge, risk behaviours, and prevalence as they relate to sexual health among incarcerated youth between 16 and 24 years of age in Manitoba. The study involved a cross-sectional questionnaire and testing for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV, and Hepatitis C among 210 male and female youth in nine provincial correctional centres. Descriptive analysis of STBBI knowledge, risk behaviours, and prevalence are presented. Potential associations between each of these sexual health outcomes and the epidemiologic context of risk are explored using univariate and multiple regression analysis. Longer incarceration history was associated with higher STBBI knowledge, higher sexual risk behaviours and higher STBBI prevalence. STBBI knowledge was associated with growing up on a reserve. Early age of initial substance use and injection drug use were found to be significantly associated with poor sexual health. Recommendations include increasing STBBI awareness using culturally appropriate, peer-led interventions, improving educational attainment, integrating sexual health education with substance use interventions inside corrections, increasing collaboration between community and corrections and improving opportunities for STBBI screening inside correctional centres.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a problem for both developed and developing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates in the 15-49 years old group. The discovery that these infections playa vital role in the transmission of HIV raised their profile and made their control one of the central strategies of stopping the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In response to the challenge of improving the quality of care for people infected with STIs in the public health sector, the South African Ministry of Health adopted the syndromic management approach, recommended by the World Health Organisation as suitable for resource-poor settings, for use in primary health care clinics. In addition to providing guidelines on clinical management of STIs, the syndromic approach requires health providers to counsel and educate patients about STIs, encourage patients to complete treatment even if symptoms abate, promote condom use and the treatment of all sexual partners. While the management guidelines are clear and detailed around the diagnostic and medication issues, the processes of education and counseling are not as clearly outlined. Furthermore, although the syndromic approach is a viable way of providing good quality care to larger sections of the population than could be serviced through dedicated STI clinics, it requires health providers working in primary health care clinics, most of whom are professional nurses, to perform some tasks for which they may not be adequately trained. This study evaluated the quality of care for persons infected with ST!s by examining the extent to which the syndromic approach was being implemented in primary health care clinics. Interviews, using semi-structured interview schedules, were conducted with ST! patients and health providers in twenty-four clinics located in four provinces. In depth qualitative interviews were also conducted with a sub-sample of the patients. For further triangulation the methods of participant observation, through the use of simulated patients, and focus group discussions with various community groups were used. The findings of the study indicate that although primary health care clinics in South Africa are well-resourced, the management of patients with ST!s is inadequate. Adherence to the various aspects of syndromic management was poor. Similar to other studies in South Africa, the attitudes of health providers towards patients with ST!s were found to be problematic, a finding that has implications for health-seeking behaviours. The thesis argues that a large part of the problem is related to the multiple roles that nurses have to play in primary health care settings, as well as the content and methodology of the training of nurses who manage ST! patients. It further argues for the constitution of the basic health team at primary health clinics to be multi-disciplinary, and for a multi-disciplinary input in the training of health providers.

A Thesis submitted to The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine. / Chlamydia and gonorrhea are among the most frequently reported infectious diseases in the United States. These two diseases are easily treated with antibiotics; however, challenges exist in providing treatment to cases and their sexual partners. Maricopa County implemented a Field Delivered Therapy (FDT) protocol to treat chlamydia and gonorrhea cases and contacts in 2009. Ultimately, this project sought to inform other public health departments across the United States regarding the benefits of FDT program to treat gonorrhea and chlamydia and provide better insight on how to treat the two most commonly reported infectious diseases. Existing data was analyzed from April 1, 2011 to October 31, 2014 (42 months) for all patients that received FDT in Maricopa County utilizing pharmacy records and electronic health records (PRISM and eClinicalWorks). The following pieces of information were collected from these data sources: gender, age, race/ethnicity, diagnosis, number of partners, and time to treatment. The data were then divided into four FDT groups (FDT, expedited partner therapy via FDT, FDT attempted and FDT planned). There were 172 patients in this analysis; 140 diagnosed or in contact with chlamydia and 16 diagnosed or in contact with gonorrhea. There were 79 patients (45.9%) in the FDT group, 28 (16.3%) in the FDT EPT group, 28 (16.3%) in the FDT attempted and 37 (21.5%) in the FDT planned group. The median age of these patients was 23.8 (range 16.6‐31); 111 (64.5%) were female. The median time to treatment for these patients was 24.6 days (range 0‐64.5 days). Most patients (79.6%) lived outside of central Phoenix. The median number of sexual partners reported by these patients was 6.6 (range 1‐19.7 partners). A majority of the patients were <25 years old, except for in the FDT EPT group where 100% of patients were >25 years old. And the group with the largest <19‐year‐old population (32%) was in the FDT group. All the groups had a female majority, except in the FDT EPT group where 75% of the patients were male. Most patients in the FDT only group received testing at an outside hospital or outpatient clinic, while the FDT attempted and planned were more often tested at the STD clinic. Future Direction/Conclusion Many of the patients that received FDT are young women, some pregnant, that lived outside of Central Phoenix. However, a majority of the overall clients that received expedited partner therapy via FDT were male, a typically hard to reach population for treatment of potentially asymptomatic infections. This study demonstrates an effective method of delivering partner treatment to men. This study can be used to inform other public health departments about this novel practice and to help Maricopa County grow their FDT program to reach even more untreated patients.

Introduction: Youth (15-24) have the highest prevalence of sexual transmitted infections (STI) among all the age groups and this has been attributed to high sexual risk behaviour and low condom use in this group. The use of condoms by youth is negotiated through a complex array of personal and social factors. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of Swedish youth on the factors that affect their use of condoms to protect against STI.  Methodology: The data collection was done over a period of 3 months using semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGD) and the collected data was analysed with thematic analysis. Findings: Participants perceived that different factors across intimate social circle, community and access to condoms influence the use of condoms by youth in Sweden. The lack of information from the media, embarrassment as a barrier to obtaining condoms and the influence of parents on condom use were prominent findings. Conclusion: Efforts to improve condom use by youth will benefit from exploring the different factors that inform youth’s perceptions on condom use. Opportunities for improvement identified in this study include the installation of condom vending machines, promoting condom use through the mass media and parents discussing condoms with their children.

Student Number : 9813645X - PhD thesis - Faculty of Health Sciences / Epidemiological information on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is necessary to assess the magnitude of the burden of infections, to identify vulnerable population groups, to mobilise resources for intervention activities and to monitor the impact of these activities. In addition, specific STI surveillance systems, such as studies on the relative prevalence of aetiological agents of STI syndromes and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, are aimed at improving patient care. The studies included in this thesis were designed and implemented to improve our understanding of the epidemiology of STIs and HIV infection in southern Africa. In all the study populations, we observed that high level STI epidemics preceded the explosive spread of HIV infection among high-risk individuals. The studies reported here also demonstrate the importance of triangulating data collected from different recommended STI surveillance components, using a tiered surveillance approach. The studies reported here also explored the bidirectional interactions of HIV and STIs. We observed that different STIs have shown different magnitudes of interaction with HIV infection. We found particularly strong interactions between genital herpes and HIV. At the individual level, HIV-seropositive patients with genital herpes were more frequently found to have atypical clinical presentations, delays in spontaneous healing, longer duration of HSV shedding and increased association with HIV shedding from ulcer and genital exudates. Mixed infections involving chancroid and genital herpes were found to be common, particularly in HIV-seropositive patients. The effectiveness of syndromic treatment targeting only bacterial causes of genital ulceration was significantly reduced due to persistent ulcerations as a result of co-infection with genital herpes. The successful treatment of herpes in men and women was found to be associated with a decline or cessation in HIV shedding into ulcer exudates or genital fluid. The studies have also shown that HIV plasma viral load is the main determinant for HIV shedding in both men and women presenting with STIs. As was the case with HSV infection, there was a strong association between HIV and HPV infection in both men and women. A higher prevalence of HPV infection was found among HIV-seropositive patients in our study population and this may reflect the higher frequency of recurrences and/or longer duration of infection (i.e. persistency). The studies also found that the biological false positive reactions in syphilis serology (i.e. RPR) are not a common occurrence in our HIV-seropositive study population. On the other hand, syphilis serology could be falsely negative in patients with PCR-confirmed primary syphilis who are co-infected with HIV and other aetiological agents causing GUD. In conclusion, the findings of our studies have supported the bidirectional nature of interactions between conventional STIs and HIV infection in southern Africa.

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / An epidemiological study was conducted with the main goal of describing the occurrences of the various STIs in the Eastern Cape province as well as biographical factors such as age, gender, and geographical location influencing them. Ten primary health care (PHC) centres located throughout the province served as sentinel sites for surveillance data collection for a period of 3 months using Daily and Monthly Report Forms. The surveillance data was analysed using relative frequencies to determine STIs prevalence. The main findings from the present study suggest that the most frequently encountered female syndromes were vaginal discharge and lower abdominal pains and most frequent male syndrome was Urethral discharge. Other syndromes accounted for less than 10% of the STI cases observed at the PHC centres during the study. The study also indicate that more STI patients were seen at urban PHC centres compared to rural ones and that most of the STI patients seen at PHC centres were women. These findings are helpful for the Health Department in the Eastern Cape Province to effectively plan for the control and prevention of all STIs including HIV I AIDS.

Sexually transmissible infections (STIs), one of the major preventable health problems affecting the Australian population, are often asymptomatic and, if undetected, can cause sub-fertility, infertility and chronic morbidity. In addition to these significant and costly consequences, STIs increase the risk of transmission of HIV. Given that 80% of Australian patients attend their General Practitioner (GP) each year, GPs are well placed to have a significant impact on STI transmission by diagnosing and treating both asymptomatic and symptomatic disease. Good professional practice would suggest that all GPs will undertake certain actions when they are consulted by a patient who either has symptoms of an STI or who appears to be at risk of acquiring an STI. This expectation is based on the premise that all GPs share the same detailed knowledge of STI risk factors and symptoms. It assumes that they will have no difficulty in eliciting such information from the patient, that the patient will comply with STI testing and treatment and that the patient will return for follow-up, to ensure that they and their sexual partners have been adequately treated. Given the constraints of the real world in which general practice exists, the sensitive nature of sexual health, and the stigma associated with STIs, there are many barriers to achieving such an outcome. My own previous research has highlighted some of the difficulties experienced by GPs in the area of STI control. This study has used data from four different sources (policy and stakeholder documents, literature, key informant interviews and my own past research) to examine ideal practice and actual practice in the prevention and treatment of STIs. A number of discrepancies were identified, and from these arose a series of recommendations for ways of making STI control in general practice less complex. To ensure that the results of the study were firmly embedded in the reality of general practice, comments on the recommendations were sought from GPs employed in a variety of practice settings, including those with low STI caseloads. These comments were used to modify the recommendations to ensure they would offer a practical and effective contribution to STI control in Victoria.