International Journal of STD & AIDS > Volume 19, Number 11 > Pp. 744-746

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Original research articles

Should men with asymptomatic non-specific urethritis be identified and treated?

A Blume MRCP DipGUM ^* , C Main BSc , R Patel FRCP ^* and E Foley BSc MRCOG ^*

^* Department of GU Medicine, Royal South Hants Hospital; University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

Corresponding to: Dr Alison Blume, Department of GU Medicine, Royal Bournemouth Hospital, Castle Lane East, Bournemouth BH7 7DW, UK Email: adblume{at}yahoo.com

There is currently a debate as to whether microscopy is necessary in asymptomatic men presenting for a sexual health screen. Arguments favouring microscopy include finding chlamydia in a significant proportion of sexual partners of men with non-specific urethritis (NSU) in studies that included symptomatic men. We aimed to investigate the proportion of partners of men with asymptomatic NSU who were diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection. A retrospective case-note review was carried out for all men diagnosed with asymptomatic pathogen-negative NSU, and their traced sexual contacts, during a nine-month period. As a result of contact-tracing, we identified 42 partners who attended the clinic. Only one partner (2.4%) tested positive for chlamydia. A further two partners were diagnosed with a viral sexually transmitted infection (STI). The low level of chlamydia and other STIs in partners of asymptomatic men with pathogen-negative NSU does not support the routine use of microscopy to identify these patients.

Key Words: microscopy • non-specific urethritis • partner notification

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