Efficacy of partner notification for Chlamydia trachomatis among young adults in youth health centres in Uppsala County, Sweden

Abstract

Background: The study was conducted to define the contact-tracing success rate of the partner notification services routinely provided by the community-based youth health centres and the county medical officer for communicable disease control (CMO) in Uppsala County, Sweden.

Objective: The study had three goals, (i) to register the number of sexual partners routinely reported by each diagnosed index case with CT and the success rate in tracing and testing these partners for CT infection. (ii) To analyse the current notification practices in reporting the number of cases of unsuccessful contact tracing to the CMO. (iii) To determine the contact tracing success rate of the partner notification services provided by the CMO.

Methods: Each diagnosed case of CT is obliged by law to participate in the contact-tracing procedure performed by the physician managing the patient or by a specialised sexually transmitted infection (STI) adviser. Successful contact-tracing is defined as the confirmed attendance of a sexual contact within 12 months of the contact with the index case.

Results: The number of CT cases diagnosed by the youth health centres during the study period was 463 (299 females and 164 males). The females reported 660 male sexual contacts and the males reported 386 female contacts. Successful partner notification was achieved for 73% of all sexual contacts. 284 (190 females and 94 males) unsuccessful partner notifications were reported to the CMO of whom 98 (52%) of the female contacts and 20 (21%) of the male contacts were successfully notified by the CMO. However, for 134 (71 females and 63 males) partners, personal details given by the index case were insufficient for identification of the partner.

Conclusions: When asymptomatic, genital CT infection spreads among sexually active young adults with multiple, unidentified sexual partners, appropriate methods of partner notification are not sufficient to achieve its aims at the population level.