Screening Urines Submitted for Pregnancy Testing for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia

Background: Many young women who access care at health departments in Tennessee also request a pregnancy test or their health care provider requests they take a test.  Since they are obviously having unprotected sex, they are also at risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Objectives: Establish disease prevalence for gonorrhea and Chlamydia among females requesting pregnancy tests at the health department. 

Methods: Every urine sample submitted for a pregnancy test at a health department clinic was also tested for gonorrhea and Chlamydia by Gen-Probe PCR test.  Results were returned to the clinic and positives contacted for treatment and partner services.

Results: Excluding those done routinely in family planning and the STD clinic, 22,452 gonorrhea and 22,753 Chlamydia tests were performed on urine samples submitted for pregnancy testing in 2008.  Of these samples, 1% (183) were found to be positive for gonorrhea and 6% (1,356) for Chlamydia in 2008. 

Conclusions: As females engage in unprotected sex, they are at risk for not only pregnancy, but also STIs. With 6.7% positivity, it is productive to screen pregnancy urines for gonorrhea and Chlamydia, possibly preventing adverse affects to the babies of those who were pregnant and preventing long term sequelae of these infections.

Implications for Programs, Policy, and/or Research: Screening urines submitted for pregnancy testing for gonorrhea and Chlamydia is an easy way to increase screening to at risk females.