POPLINE Document Number: 018229
Author(s):
Rendtorff RC
Packer H
Glassco S
Levy J
Source citation:
British Journal of Venereal Diseases, 1977 Dec;53(6):364-7.
Abstract:
The experience of a community surveillance program aimed at detecting gonorrhea in women in Memphis-Shelby County, Tennessee, is reported. This report, presenting data from 1975-76, updates an earlier report from the 1973-74 period. Data from both periods are compared in an attempt to determine the program's impact on the rate of women with gonorrhea and on the number of hospital admissions for pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), the most serious complication of gonorrhea. The total number of tests performed in the community increased from 113,063 in 1973-74 to 140,201 in 1975-76. The percentage of women with positive cultures was 5.1 in the earlier period and 5.0 in the latter period. The total number of positive cultures at the City of Memphis Hospital declined by 7.4% from 3097 in 1973-74 and 2868 in 1975-76. This decline is largely due to a reduction in the number of positive cultures identified in the emergency room. Despite this decline, the emergency room continued to provide the highest number of positive cultures (16.5% in 1975-76) and the highest ratio of positive cultures to number of tests. City of Memphis Hospital as a whole provided 40.6% of the positive cultures in only 31.5% of total tests. The number of cultures obtained from other community health services increased by 54.5% from 2709 to 4185 in the 2 study periods. This increase is largely attributed to the establishment of new family planning clinics in poor areas and increased participation in the surveillance program among private physicians in these areas. The 3 year moving average incidence of PID recorded in the City of Memphis Hospital discharge at diagnosis showed a dramatic decline between 1968 (the year the surveillance program was initiated) and 1976, suggesting that the program has effectively prevented much infection from progressing to PID. Moreover, the unchanged incidence of gonorrhea observed in the 2 study periods indicates that the infection rate has stabilized. This is in contrast to the continuous upward trend observed on a national level.
Keywords:
TennesseeIndex page
United States
North America
Surveys
Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention
Adnexitis
Genital Effects, Female
Infections
Community Health Services
Preventive Medicine
Public Health
Prevention and Control
Developed Countries
Americas
Sampling Studies
Studies
Research Methodology
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Reproductive Tract Infections
Diseases
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
Genitalia, Female
Genitalia
Urogenital System
Physiology
Biology
Primary Health Care
Health Services
Delivery of Health Care
Health
Medicine