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October 2011 – 255 (1744): 16

Testing for gonorrhoea in the community

19 Oct 2011Registered users

The prevalence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) in young people, aged 15-24, was found to be 0.47% in a study carried out in the community.

Although not part of the National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP), some areas under the programme provide screening for gonorrhoea as well. The number of tests for Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and GC were obtained from five NCSP areas providing dual testing. Four areas introduced testing in 2007 and the fifth in 2008. Two of these areas were outside London and the rest within Greater London. The period of data collection was not stated. A total of 219,412 samples were tested from the five programme areas. The percentage of CT-positive samples ranged from 2.7% to 9.2%, GC positivity ranged from 0.2% to 2.1% which is consistent with other prevalence studies. CT positivity was higher outside London but that of GC varied; one London programme area consistently had the highest CT and GC positivities.

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