Informing Partners Could Reduce STDs

Doctors should encourage patients with sexually transmitted infections to tell their partners to seek treatment, say Swiss and British researchers.

The researchers at the University of Bern in Switzerland and Royal Free & University College Hospitals Medical School in London also say that doctors should also provide home testing kits or drugs to help reduce sexually transmitted infection rates.

Partner notification is an important part of managing most curable sexually transmitted infections, but the stigma attached to sexually transmitted infections often makes this difficult, according to the researchers.

The researchers analyzed 14 studies involving 12,389 women and men diagnosed with a common sexually transmitted infection, including Chlamydia, gonorrhea and non-specific urethritis.

Involving patients with sexually transmitted infections in shared responsibility for the care of their sexual partners improves outcomes, according to the study published in the British Medical Journal.