Home kit to test for sexually transmitted diseases

By Karen Hebert, London

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, United States, have developed a home testing kit for sexually transmitted diseases that will be piloted in the Maryland area over the next six months. Five hundred kits will be available in the study, which is funded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The aim is to replicate the successful, widely used home pregnancy tests and lower the rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among young women, who are most at risk of contracting an STD and least likely to have regular checkups.

Charlotte Gaydos, an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the study, said, "Many women are left unaware for years that they have an STD because symptoms do not commonly appear for long periods after infection." She continued: "It can take two to three years before infected women develop signs of pelvic inflammatory disease, a condition that can leave a woman infertile from resulting scar tissue."

Professor Gaydos and colleagues conducted seven focus groups with young women and found that they wanted a kit that they could use in the privacy of their own homes. Many young sexually active women are not tested for Chlamydia and gonorrhoea because they are scared of going to a clinic and also of having a pelvic examination. But since symptoms may be absent or mild, many women do not seek care in the first place.

The kit consists of a packaged, sterile, vaginal swab; with instructions on how to use it; sealed containers; and postage paid, return envelopes, which are sent off to a Johns Hopkins laboratory.

The results will be available within two weeks via a secured telephone answering service that uses kit numbers and passwords. For women who test positive for Chlamydia or gonorrhoea, a referral is also provided to a local community health clinic for treatment, as part of the confirmation telephone message.

Participants are asked to complete a questionnaire to help the researchers learn how to provide better outreach programmes and access to sexual health care for young women at risk of sexually transmitted diseases."

Professor Gaydos said: "We believe that if this kind of programme is successful, it may be able to have an impact on the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases among young women."

The kits will be available from www.iwantthekit.org, which also provides information about STDs and about how and why to use the kit.



studentBMJ 2004;12:309-348 SeptemberISSN 0966-6494