In the October 17th issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, Peterman and colleagues from the RESPECT-2 Study Group report an analysis of data collected from a randomized controlled trial performed in 3 urban STD clinics designed to assess the incidence of new STDs within a year of the initial infection.

2419 patients visiting an STD prevention clinic were followed for one year for a total of 8129 3-month follow-up visits. Of 1236 women studied, nearly 26% exhibited 1 or more infection, consisting most commonly of Chlamydia (11.9%), Gonorrhea (6.3%), and Trichomonas (12.8%). Infections were seen in 14.7% of men studied (n=1183), most commonly consisting of Chlamydia (9.4%) and Gonorrhea (7.1%). Those patients infected at baseline had the higher risk of infection at subsequent visits within 6 months (16.3 per 100 3-month intervals) and at 9 and 12 months (12 per 100 3-month visits). Remarkably, even in men, 66% of infections were asymptomatic.

While traditionally recurrent STDs are thought to be asymptomatic mostly in women, these data suggest that repeat, asymptomatic infection may be common among men, warranting repeat screening 3 months after treatment even in asymptomatic patients

Thomas A. Peterman, MD, MSc; Lin H. Tian, MD, MS; Carol A. Metcalf, MBChB, MPH; Catherine L. Satterwhite, MSPH, MPH; C. Kevin Malotte, DrPH; Nettie DeAugustine, BA; Sindy M. Paul, MD, MPH; Helene Cross, PhD; Cornelis A. Rietmeijer, MD, PhD; John M. Douglas, Jr., MD, for the RESPECT-2 Study Group*

Ann Intern Med. 2006 Oct 17;145(8):564-72

Written by Ricardo Sånchez-Ortiz, MD, a Contributing Editor with UroToday.

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