Prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis and associated risk factors in women inmates admitted to a youth offenders institute in the UK

Abstract

The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis genital infections in young women inmates aged 17-21 located on the Youth Offenders Institute of HMP Holloway. The study consisted of a questionnaire and a urine sample for analysis. A health advisor administered a questionnaire to establish sociodemographic profile, sexual history and illicit drug use. C. trachomatis was diagnosed using a nucleic acid amplification test. Overall, the prevalence of C. trachomatis was 13.2%. Drug use was common with 41.2% using crack cocaine and 17.3% using intravenous heroin. A majority (80.2%) reported not using condoms during the last sexual encounter and 62.6% had a history of a previous pregnancy. Over half (53.3%) had a previous sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening and 74.7% had never been previously diagnosed with a STI. Sexual health programmes in prisons should include screening as well as education about STI risk reduction and drug prevention.

Sexual health in prisons

“…Sir: At the risk of suggesting yet another entry to the list of horrors -e.g. HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, poverty, drought, food shortages -bedevilling a region that, at this point, deserves only relief, it should be noted that the paper by Chersich et al 1 in the November issue of International Journal of STD and AIDS generally substantiates the conclusions of a recent spate of papers 2 -8 that have called attention to the role of hazardous drinking in sub-Saharan HIV/AIDS spread. This is an issue that received far too little attention from the local and international HIV prevention and policy-making community during earlier years of the pandemic.…”

Risk factors associated with chlamydia and gonorrhoea infection among female sex workers in two Mexico–USA border cities

“…Chlamydia and gonorrhoea share some risk factors, such as female gender, younger age at sexual debut, low contraceptive use, greater number of sexual partners, engaging in commercial sex work and drug use. 7–12 Recent studies have also identified partner-level risk factors; for example, in a sample of 15–24 year olds, partners who had a sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the past year and partnerships with an age difference of five years or more were more predictive of STIs than were the individuals' own sexual behaviours. 13 STI risks may also differ by sexual partner type.…”

Enhanced chlamydia surveillance in New South Wales (Australia) prisons, 2005‐2007

“…For example, a study of young prisoners in the United Kingdom revealed a chlamydia prevalence of 13.2%, compared with 5% in the UK general community (Adams, Charlett, Edmunds, & Hughes, 2004;Gabriel, Burns, Scott-Ram, Adlington, & Bansi, 2008). In California, United States chlamydia prevalence among men and women prisoners aged 18Á25 years averaged 9.4%, compared with a prevalence of 2.2% among males and females aged 14Á39 years in the general community (Bernstein et al, 2006;Datta et al, 2007).…”