Discordant prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in asymptomatic couples screened by two screening approaches

This study was carried out to observe the effect of screening both members of an asymptomatic couple for Chlamydia trachomatis. First void urine samples were collected from 105 women and their male sex partners. Women were recruited for screening at a sexual health clinical setting (age 16-25 years), and home sampling screening options were used for men. Using PCR we detected seven positive C. trachomatis samples in women (6.6%) and five in men (4.6%). The concordant infection rate was 33% (3/9 couples). Routine urine screening of the female partner might result in substantial underestimation of the C. trachomatis prevalence within the couple, where perhaps 56% of the couples where at least one partner tested positive would remain undiagnosed. Screening both partners compared with women- or men-only screening increased the detection rate of positive couples. Furthermore, the use of alternative screening approaches in different clinical settings increases testing in at risk populations.