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Chlamydia – ACCEPting the Challenge

Chlamydia rates in Australia are rising, along with a resultant burden to the health system. For this reason, the Australian Government has funded ACCEPt, the Australian Chlamydia Control Effectiveness Pilot, to assess the feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an organised program of chlamydia testing in general practice. This exciting, world-first trial requires general practitioners (GPs) to conduct annual chlamydia testing in sexually active young people aged 16 to 29 years.

Australian GPs mostly test for chlamydia when a patient presents with symptoms, requests a test or has an infected partner. Given that over 80% of infections are asymptomatic, many infections are likely missed. Annual testing of sexually active young people less than 25 years is recommended by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, but is infrequently performed, even though most people in this age group see their GP annually.

ACCEPt will be inviting GP clinics and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services in approximately 54 geographical areas (towns or suburbs) to participate. Clinics will be randomised to either carry out usual care, or receive a multifaceted intervention that includes feedback on screening performance and education through multiple rounds of testing. The success of the intervention will be determined by the change in chlamydia prevalence, rates of pelvic inflammatory disease, and chlamydia screening rates. Most importantly, ACCEPt will show whether Australia should introduce a chlamydia testing program, and if so, how it will work best.

The trial is being run by a multi-disciplinary consortium of researchers, largely based at the University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales. Clinics in the Melbourne General Practice Network will be visited by the team from ACCEPt soon! For further information about ACCEPt, visit www.accept.org.au or contact the ACCEPt team at (03) 8344 0792.