Value and feasibility of screening women attending STD clinics for cervical chlamydial infections

A chlamydial screening service was provided in Bristol over a three-month period for women attending the sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic either for the first time or with a new complaint. Isolation of Chlamydia trachomatis was attempted in cytochalasin-treated McCoy cells. Of 919 specimens, valid results were obtained in 796. Chlamydial infections were identified and treated in 154 (19%) of these 796 women. Chlamydia were isolated from 52 (37%) of 152 female partners of men with nongonococcal urethritis (NGU); these patients already routinely receive treatment with tetracylcines in this clinic. The remaining 102 infections (34 (48%) of 71 women with gonorrhoea and 68 (12%) of the other 573 women) would have been unrecognised and usually untreated without chlamydial isolation studies. These figures confirm the need to provide chlamydial diagnostic services for selected STD clinic attenders.