I n the United States there are 19 million new sexually transmitted disease (STD) cases diagnosed each year, including 900,000 reported cases of chlamydia, 330,000 reported cases of gonorrhea [1,2], and 55,400 estimated new HIV infections per year [3]. Notifying sexual partners of their potential exposure to an STD has been a mainstay of disease prevention and control since the 1930s [4]. Recen...

OBJECTIVE Despite the enormous expansion of HIV testing services (HTS), an estimated 40% of people with HIV infection remain undiagnosed. To enhance the efficiency of HTS, new approaches are needed. The WHO conducted a systematic review on the effectiveness of assisted partner notification in improving HIV test uptake and diagnosis, and the occurrence of adverse events, to inform the developmen...

BACKGROUND New strategies to support partner notification (PN) are critical for STD control and require detailed understanding of how specific individual and partnership characteristics guide notification decisions. METHODS From 2011 to 2012, 397 MSM and TW recently diagnosed with HIV, syphilis, or another STD completed a survey on anticipated notification of recent sexual partners and associ...

BACKGROUND Earlier antiretroviral treatment initiation prevents new HIV infections. A key problem in HIV prevention and care is the high number of patients diagnosed late, as these undiagnosed patients can continue forward HIV transmission. We modeled the impact on the Dutch men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) HIV epidemic and cost-effectiveness of an existing partner notification process for earli...

The epidemic of HIV/AIDS among Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM) is rapidly escalating. We implemented partner notification among HIV-infected MSM, cooperating with MSM-serving community-based organizations (CBOs) in two Chinese cities from June 2014 to May 2015. CBOs participated in identifying new HIV-positive MSM utilizing rapid HIV tests and partner notification among index cases. 253...

OBJECTIVE To determine the cost and effectiveness of three approaches to partner notification for infectious syphilis. STUDY DESIGN People with syphilis were randomly assigned to: (1) notification of partners by patients themselves within 2 days or disease intervention specialists would notify them; (2) immediate notification by intervention specialist; or (3) immediate notification by interv...

Partner notification and contact tracing are well-established public health interventions designed to reduce the incidence of new cases of sexually transmitted diseases. The idea behind such programs is to inform the sexual and drug-using contacts of infected patients of their potential exposure so that the chain of infection can be broken. After researchers discovered that HIV could be transmi...

OBJECTIVE To better understand preferences and practices regarding partner notification of sexually transmitted infection (STI) among female, African-American adolescents. METHODS Participants completed a questionnaire and STI testing at baseline. Those diagnosed with Chlamydia or gonorrhea were recruited for a follow-up study, involving another questionnaire and repeat STI testing after thre...

INTRODUCTION HIV testing and counselling (HTC) is important to effect positive sexual behaviour change and is an entry point to treatment, care, and psychosocial support. One of the most practical initiatives to increase HTC is to encourage sexual partners of HIV-infected persons to test for HIV. However, partner notification strategies must be feasible in the healthcare setting and acceptable ...