Public health management: Preventing Chlamydia trachomatis infection

Public health management: Preventing Chlamydia trachomatis infection

Introduction

In U.S., the most widely spread sexually transmitted disease (STDs) is genital infection resulting from the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis. The infection is a major public health concern that has a significant impact on the economy, as well, costing more than $2 billion per year. Women, in particular young age group, sustain most severe consequences, such as chronic pelvic pain, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy, and tubal infertility. Most of the infections from Chlamydia trachomatis are asymptomatic. Thus, prior screening and early treatment intervention are the most important public health interventions to prevent serious consequences. In addition, the advancement of screening through nucleic acid amplification technology, to detect the bacteria from urine, as well as, vaginal and cervical specimen, has increased the interests of providing regular screening in a nonclinical setting (Hu, Hook, & Goldie, 2004, pp. 501-513).

Even though the early guidelines promotes the annual screening of Chlamydia trachomatis in all sexually active young women, especially those younger than 25 years of age, reports of high recurrence rate have led to suggestion of more frequent screening in women who were previously infected. In fact, the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) encourage follow-up screening tests for all women tested positive previously for Chlamydia trachomatis. The annual screening of Chlamydia trachomatis has proved to be cost-effective, the costs and clinical benefits of women with a history of infection should consider a more extensive screening. Furthermore, the current guideline targets the women ages between 15 and 25 years, reports of substantial risks in the older women have also been reported (Hu, Hook, & Goldie, 2004, pp. 501-513).

Discussion

What is Chlamydia?

Chlamydia is a bacterial infection, and the most prevalent STDs with more than 50 million cases occurring across the globe and about 3 million cases diagnosed in the U.S alone. The important concern in Chlamydia is the absence of symptoms in almost 75 percent of women and 50 percent of men. Since, most of the infected individuals are unaware of their infection; they do not seek medical advice, leading to severe consequences (Department of Health, 2006).

Significance of Public Health

The infection of Chlamydia is a considerable problem of public health due to its impact of untreated infection from Chlamydia trachomatis on high prevalence of PID, poor outcomes of reproductive health, sub-fertility, the relationship between infection and transmission of other STDs, and impact of increased burden due to associated diseases on the costs of health services. Even though, the treatment available for Chlamydia is effective and ineffective, the control and spread of infection is challenging as most of people suffering from genital Chlamydia infection are asymptomatic (Shaw, Coleman, O'Sullivan, & Stephens, 2011, pp. 57-65).

Chlamydia costs billions of dollars to the healthcare system, in order to treat acute infections, as well as, the serious consequences. In particular, treating sub-fertility is the most expensive due to high costs of tubal surgeries or in-vitro fertilization. Furthermore, the highly expensive treatment for the ...