Concomitant infection with Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) and Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is a reality.1–3 Ancillary treatment for CT is recommended for patients with treatment indications for NG. At Clinic 275, the only public STD clinic in South Australia, epidemiological treatment for CT co-infection is given to heterosexual men with presumptive gonococcal urethritis based on Gram stain results, but until mid-2011, men who have sex with men (MSM) were not given this epidemiological treatment under clinic guidelines.
Variation in guidelines in different Australian centers existed.
We wanted to determine the local co-infection prevalence in MSM in South Australia and whether it justified epidemiological treatment of CT when a presumptive diagnosis of gonococcal urethritis was made.
A retrospective review of case notes data of all males with NG and CT co-infection over a 10-year period (2001–2010) was performed. Database closed on 21 February 2011.
Presumptive diagnoses of NG were made from…