BMJ 2000;321:629-631 ( 9 September )

Education and debate

Evidence based health policy report

Screening for genital chlamydial infection

Jeanne Pimenta, pilot coordinator ^a, Mike Catchpole, consultant epidemiologist ^a, Muir Gray, director ^b, Jenny Hopwood, pilot coordinator ^c, Sarah Randall, pilot coordinator ^d. 

^a Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Disease Surveillance, London NW9 5EQ, ^b National Screening Committee, Institute of Health Sciences, Oxford OX3 7LF, ^c Evidence-Based Practice Centre, St Catherine's Hospital, Birkenhead L42 0LQ, ^d Ella Gordon Unit, St Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth PO3 6AD

Correspondence to: J Pimenta JPimenta@phls.org.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Sexual and reproductive health in the United Kingdom urgently needs improving,¹ and the government is developing the first integrated national strategy on sexual health. ^{2 3} Theoretical models describing the main determinants of the incidence of sexually transmitted infections suggest that reducing the mean duration of infectiousness is likely to lead to substantially lower levels of disease.⁴ One way of achieving such reductions is by the earlier ascertainment of cases through screening for infection. The chief medical officer's expert advisory group on Chlamydia trachomatis has recently evaluated the evidence for chlamydia screening in the United Kingdom.⁵ In this report we summarise the main evidence addressed by the group and outline how its conclusions have been implemented through a screening pilot in two health authorities in England.

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	The problem

C trachomatis infection is the most common curable, bacterial, sexually transmitted infection in England.⁶ Since 1988, the number of cases seen in genitourinary medicine clinics in . . . [Full text of this article]

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Screening for genital chlamydial infection

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bmj.com, 2 Oct 2000 [Full text]

Not (yet) enough evidence for evidence-based policy

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