The findings and conclusions in these presentations have not been formally disseminated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and should not be construed to represent any agency determination or policy.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
P112

Chlamydia Screening Among High School Students in Mississippi

David Peyton1, Leandro Mena2, and Rozlyn Zuber1. (1) STD/HIV Bureau, Mississippi Department of Health, P.O. Box 1700, Jackson, MS, USA, (2) Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS, USA


Background:
The adoption of NAAT to screen for Chlamydia (CT) and GC infections has facilitated the expansion of screening programs outside of the clinical setting to reach high risk populations.

Objective:
To describe the implementation of a high school CT screening program and document prevalence in that setting.

Method:
: Staff gained support from stake holders and parents to provide STD/HIV education prior to initial screening. Screening of asymptomatic students was done using FVU specimens processed with the Gen-Probe AC2 assay at the PHL from November 2004 through March 2007. Treatment was provided for students with positive test results.

Result:
596 students were screened in 8 high schools. There were 204/679 (30%) male students participating. Overall CT infection rate was 83/596 (13.9%). Of these, 63/392 (16.1%) were female students and 20/204 (9.8%) were male students with positive test results. Peers motivate others to be tested and the programs success has encouraged additional schools to participate.

Conclusion:
Community support is essential to implementation of high school CT screening programs and is likely to detect unsuspected infections thereby reducing morbidity.

Implications:
The high rates of chlamydial infection present in this population underscore the importance of screening programs and health education in this age group.