Contact tracing in genital chlamydial infection.

In the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STD), contact tracing plays an important role. In the Scandinavian countries, contact tracing in patients found to be infected with Chlamydia trachomatis is not, except in cases of lymphogranuloma venereum, encompassed by any of the official recommendations concerning STD. In Sweden, contact tracing in gonorrhea cases is stipulated by law, which in STD clinics generally enlist the help of social officers. In genital infections of chlamydial origin, however, contact tracing must be performed on the basis of voluntary cooperation by patients and their contacts. Female partners of men infected with C. trachomatis have been found to harbor chlamydiae in the cervix in up to 70% of cases, while in the case of Chlamydia-positive women, about half of all their male partners are culture-positive for this organism. Partners usually have difficulty in determining just when they might have contracted their chlamydial infection. Contacts of several months' duration probably should be examined. Serological studies in male partners of chlamydiae-infected women have been found to have very limited value. It is most important both that patients with signs of genital infection be examined for the presence of C. trachomatis, and that culture-positive patients be offered a contact-tracing service.