(IUSTI-Europe Congress 2023)
Katharina Schwarz, Lisa Werderitsch, Miriam Kyska, Angelika Stary
Outpatients Center for Infectious Venero-dermatological Diseases, Vienna, Austria
Background:
Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) are the 2 most common notifiable conditions. Despite emerging interest in Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) and Mycoplasma genitalium (MG), true prevalence rates are unknown as many medical centers do not routinely test for these pathogens. Here we assessed the overall STI prevalence detection across different sample types as well as the co-infection rates for CT, NG, TV and MG.
Methods:
Specimens were collected and tested with the Alinity m STI assay (Abbott Molecular Inc, Des Plaines, IL, USA) between February 10, 2021 and February 11, 2023. Positive results were confirmed by the Aptima Assays (Hologic, USA). Overall positivity and co-infection rates were determined based on the number of positive results for each analyte and the total number of results performed.
Results:
During the Feb 10/2021 to Feb 11/2023 evaluation period, positivity rate for CT (6.5 to 5.6%) NG (3.8 to 2.9%) and TV (1.7 to 1.1%) decreased while positivity rate for MG (3.9 to 4.1%) increased slightly. The overall positivity for CT specimens was 6.0% (3,219/50,114), NG specimens was 3.3% (1,771/51,582), TV specimens was 1.4% (731/52,569) and MG specimens was 4.0% (2,2120/51,152). <1.0% of all CT positives, NG positives, TV positives and MG positives had a co-infection with one other pathogen.
Conclusion:
Number studies have demonstrated that STI are on the rise globally, this study demonstrated that the prevalence rates in this cohort decreased during the study period. Also, the co-infection rates in this cohort were low and this could be attributed to the study population or the use of contraceptives for both males and females which have been shown to reduce transmission of STIs.
Furthermore, the decrease was also influenced by several lockdowns in Austria due to the covid- infection.
