Need for screening for genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection in Australia

Abstract

Genital Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common notifiable sexually transmissible infection in Australia and is associated with significant complications, particularly for women. There is no screening program for chlamydia in Australia despite this infection fulfilling the criteria for screening--it is easily diagnosed with acceptable self-administered tests and early treatment prevents complications. Screening for chlamydia reduces the prevalence of infection and the rate of complications and is recommended by several Western countries including the United States, England and Canada. If a screening program was introduced in Australia, several issues would first need to be addressed including who would be screened, how often would they be screened and where would screening be offered. We discuss these issues in this paper in an effort to advance the debate and the introduction of chlamydia screening in Australia.