The case for screening is made, but much detail remains to be worked out

News p 1479

This month the chief medical officer of England published the report of an expert advisory group on Chlamydia trachomatis, which highlighted the need for immediate action to reduce the prevalence of chlamydia infection and the morbidity associated with it.1 Chlamydia is the most prevalent, treatable sexually transmitted infection in the United Kingdom and has serious sequelae, including pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and neonatal infections. All these conditions, except for infertility, have been shown to be preventable if chlamydia trachomatis is treated in its asymptomatic phase. The expert group is proposing an education campaign to increase awareness of chlamydia infection coupled with opportunistic screening of asymptomatic sexually active young women.

The advisory group's main recommendations are to offer testing to all men and women with symptoms of infection, all attenders at genitourinary medicine clinics, and women seeking terminations of pregnancy and to screen opportunistically sexually active women aged under 25 and those over 25 with …