Use your browser's BACK button to return to your page of origin.
Comparative epidemiology of heterosexual gonococcal and chlamydial
networks: implications for transmission patterns.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases 2000;27(4):215-223.
BP Stoner, WL Whittington, JP Hughes, SO Aral, KK Holmes.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Networks of sex-partner interaction affect differential risk of
acquiring sexually transmitted infections. The authors evaluated sociodemographic
and behavioral factors that correlated with membership in networks of gonococcal
and chlamydial transmission. METHODS: Face-to-face interviews were conducted
with 127 patients with gonorrhea and 184 patients with chlamydia (index cases)
and their named sex partners, as well as the partners of infected partners.
Detailed information was obtained regarding demographic, behavioral, and
sexual-history characteristics of all respondents. RESULTS: Gonococcal-network
members differed significantly from chlamydial-network members in a number
of demographic variables, including race or ethnicity, education, and unemployment
status. Gonococcal-network members were more likely to report past history
of crack-cocaine use, sexual assault, and having been in jail. Gonococcal-network
members also reported having more sex partners during the past 1 year and
3 months than did chlamydial-network members. Gonococcal and chlamydial mixing
matrices demonstrated assortativeness for sex partner selection by race or
ethnicity but not by sexual activity level, and no systematic differences
between networks were noted. Gonococcal networks were larger than chlamydial
networks. CONCLUSIONS: Network analyses of gonococcal and chlamydial infections
demonstrated significant differences in sociodemographic and behavioral variables.
Further research is required to delineate specific predictors of network
membership among persons at risk for sexually transmitted infections.