Testing women annually for chlamydia infection may do little to protect those at greatest risk, researchers warned today.
A new analysis claims that many women go on to develop chlamydia-related diseases in spite of attending screening.
This is because infection causes pelvic inflammatory disease – which can harm a woman’s fertility – much faster than 12 months.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, researchers say it may be better to test women at risk more frequently.
This would include encouraging women to go for testing soon after getting a new partner.
Researchers studied more than 2,500 women students in London, aged between 16 and 27.
During annual screening just over five per cent were found to be infected with chlamydia – and about a quarter of these went on to develop pelvic inflammatory disease.
The study showed that these represented only a fifth of all the women who developed the disease. Some 79 per cent of the women who developed the disease had been cleared of chlamydia at screening.
Researcher Dr Pippa Oakeshott, of St George’s, London University, UK, warns that single screening is "not particularly successful" at preventing the disease.
She said today: "Our findings suggest that to prevent one case of clinical pelvic inflammatory disease over 12 months, it may be necessary to screen 147 women for chlamydial infection or to treat 13 women who are positive for chlamydia.
"Some women may be unaware of the recommendation to be retested for chlamydia every time they have a new sexual partner."
Writing in the same journal, Jessica Sheringham, of University College London, says the findings are "disappointing but not surprising".
British Medical Journal on-line April 9 2010
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