Doctors demand national screening for chlamydia
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《英国医生杂志》
Public health doctors have derided the slow progress towards a national screening programme for chlamydia as "disgraceful."
The BMA抯 annual conference of public health medicine called on the government to roll out screening across the United Kingdom as a matter of urgency.
Dr Howard Barnes, who proposed the motion, said the absence of a national programme had led to a high volume of uncoordinated testing.
"In a district near me in Yorkshire 14 000 people have been tested. That is out of a population of 200 000," he said.
Chlamydia is the United Kingdom抯 most common sexually transmitted infection. Nearly 70 000 cases of chlamydia were reported by clinics in 2001, up 10% on the previous 12 months. The infection, which is often asymptomatic in women, can cause pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.
Dr Barnes attacked the government for setting up a series of pilot groups but failing to take the plunge and construct a formal screening programme. The initial sites are in Portsmouth and the Wirral, followed by two more waves of pilots in subsequent years. The schemes primarily target women aged 16 to 24, but men are also offered tests.
"This is despite screening proving to be an effective strategy," he said. "The government has found ?6m to fund the new sexual health strategy, and chlamydia is just one of the demands. But with screening we would see a reduction in pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility," he said.
He said the danger was that the government抯 indecision could lead to a confused situation similar to that when screening for cervical cancer and hepatitis B was introduced.
"This unmanaged growth will see whole groups neglected, a failure to pick up implications, laboratory errors, and enrichment of the lawyers. We don抰 want this fate for chlamydia."
The motion, which expressed "regret the disgracefully slow progress towards national screening programmes" was passed unopposed.(London Rebecca Coombes)
The BMA抯 annual conference of public health medicine called on the government to roll out screening across the United Kingdom as a matter of urgency.
Dr Howard Barnes, who proposed the motion, said the absence of a national programme had led to a high volume of uncoordinated testing.
"In a district near me in Yorkshire 14 000 people have been tested. That is out of a population of 200 000," he said.
Chlamydia is the United Kingdom抯 most common sexually transmitted infection. Nearly 70 000 cases of chlamydia were reported by clinics in 2001, up 10% on the previous 12 months. The infection, which is often asymptomatic in women, can cause pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.
Dr Barnes attacked the government for setting up a series of pilot groups but failing to take the plunge and construct a formal screening programme. The initial sites are in Portsmouth and the Wirral, followed by two more waves of pilots in subsequent years. The schemes primarily target women aged 16 to 24, but men are also offered tests.
"This is despite screening proving to be an effective strategy," he said. "The government has found ?6m to fund the new sexual health strategy, and chlamydia is just one of the demands. But with screening we would see a reduction in pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility," he said.
He said the danger was that the government抯 indecision could lead to a confused situation similar to that when screening for cervical cancer and hepatitis B was introduced.
"This unmanaged growth will see whole groups neglected, a failure to pick up implications, laboratory errors, and enrichment of the lawyers. We don抰 want this fate for chlamydia."
The motion, which expressed "regret the disgracefully slow progress towards national screening programmes" was passed unopposed.(London Rebecca Coombes)