Urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis infections in general practice: diagnosis, treatment, follow-up and contact tracing.

BACKGROUND: Patients with urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis infection are frequently seen in general practice. It is, therefore, important to assess GPs' management of these patients in order to ensure adequate control of the disease.
OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the GPs' routines in diagnosis, medical treatment, follow-up and contact tracing according to knowledge/attitude (criteria) and actual performance.
METHODS: The study comprised the 388 GPs in the County of Aarhus. Two questionnaires were used. The first questionnaire was mailed to each of 252 GPs who had attended a patient with urogenital C. trachomatis infection 4 weeks previously. Each GP was asked about his/her actual performance for that particular patient. In order to elucidate the GPs' criteria, the second questionnaire was mailed to each of the 388 GPs in the County of Aarhus, asking about their usual intended routines (criteria) for managing urogenital C. trachomatis infections. The questionnaires covered the same topics.
RESULTS: Great variations among the GPs' management of urogenital C. trachomatis infection according to sampling-site, medical treatment, follow-up and contact tracing were found. Furthermore, a discrepancy between criteria and actual performance for obtaining an urethral swab-sample in women and for contact tracing of previous partners were demonstrated. The GPs stated that they had intended to obtain more urethral swab-samples and do more contact tracing than they actually did.
CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that increasing the collection of urethral samples from women combined with greater emphasis on contact tracing procedures might limit the prevalence of the infection. In order to achieve this, continuous medical education and auditing procedures on urogenital chlamydial infections may be helpful.