A service evaluation comparing home-based testing to clinic-based testing for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B in Birmingham and Solihull.

The sexual health services in the Birmingham and Solihull area of the United Kingdom, called Umbrella, has been offering home-based testing for sexually transmitted infections to patients since August 2015. The aim of this service evaluation was to evaluate the uptake, return rate and new diagnosis rates of home-based testing in comparison with clinic-based testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), syphilis (STS) and hepatitis B. Home-based testing, although popular, had low uptake amongst high-risk groups such as men who have sex with men (MSM), compared to the clinic-based group (1% versus 11%, p < 0.

A service evaluation comparing home-based testing to clinic-based testing for Chlamydia and gonorrhoea in Birmingham and Solihull.

Home-based testing is an alternative, convenient and cost-effective method of testing for sexually transmitted infections compared to traditional clinic-based testing, in patients who are asymptomatic and, or, would otherwise feel stigmatised about attending sexual health clinics. The sexual health service in Birmingham and Solihull, called Umbrella, provides an online home-based testing service, which has been in operation since August 2015. The aim of this study was to evaluate the uptake and return rate of home-based testing kits and compare home-based testing to clinic-based testing in terms of diagnosis and treatment rates of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC).

Intravaginal boric acid: is it an alternative therapeutic option for vaginal trichomoniasis?

Objectives: Trichomoniasis, caused by (TV), is the most common curable sexually transmitted infection worldwide. Current guidance in the UK is to treat TV with a nitroimidazole antibiotic. The high prevalence of TV, high rate of antibiotic resistance and limited tolerability to nitroimidazoles suggest that alternative treatment regimens are needed.

Auditing the use and assessing the clinical utility of microscopy as a point-of-care test for Neisseria gonorrhoeae in a Sexual Health clinic.

We assessed whether urethral microscopy was performed as per clinic protocol for male clinic attendees reporting contact with Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC), urethral symptoms or given a diagnosis of epididymo-orchitis (EO) over a 12-month period (9732 patients). Prevalence of gonorrhoea in the contacts, urethral symptoms and EO groups was 50, 12.7 and 1.

The management of isolated positive syphilis enzyme immunoassay results in HIV-negative patients attending a sexual health clinic.

An unconfirmed positive treponemal enzyme immunoassay (enzyme immunoassay positive, Treponema pallidum particle agglutination negative and rapid plasma reagin negative) presents a clinical challenge to distinguish early syphilis infection from false-positive results. These cases are referred for syphilis line assay (INNO-LIA) and recalled for repeat syphilis serology. We performed a retrospective audit to establish the proportion of HIV-negative cases with unconfirmed positive enzyme immunoassay results, the proportion of these cases that received an INNO-LIA test and repeat syphilis serology testing and reviewed the clinical outcomes; 0.

The performance and clinical utility of cervical microscopy for the diagnosis of gonorrhoea in women in the era of the NAAT.

We evaluated the performance and clinical utility of cervical microscopy for diagnosing genital gonorrhoea (GC) in women, using the APTIMA Combo 2 dual GC/Chlamydia trachomatis assay as the gold standard. Test performance was assessed overall and for patient subgroups (symptomatic, GC contacts, pelvic inflammatory disease [PID] diagnosis). It was found that 93 women had positive GC genital NAAT results; 15 had positive cervical microscopy (8 were GC contacts).

Screening for alcohol use disorders in a genitourinary medicine and contraception clinic: a service evaluation.

Summary National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance advises that all patients routinely undergo alcohol screening. Our service evaluation in a sexual health clinic assessed the acceptability of alcohol screening, the prevalence of hazardous drinking and the uptake of referral to a specialist alcohol service. Three services were evaluated: a genitourinary medicine service, a contraception service and an integrated sexual health service.

Azidodeoxythymidine and didehydrodeoxythymidine as inhibitors and substrates of the human herpesvirus 8 thymidine kinase.

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), the aetiological agent of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), encodes many core genes that have been maintained during evolution of the Herpesviridae. Among these is a thymidine kinase (TK) homologue (ORF21), which has 12% homology to the related TK encoded by herpes simplex virus. We show that the HHV-8 TK is a functional deoxythymidine (dT) kinase, with Michaelis constants (K(m)) for dT and ATP of 18.