Sampling time for self-taking an oropharyngeal swab for gonorrhoea and chlamydia testing
Eric P. F. Chow
A B C * , Christopher K. Fairley A B , Kate Maddaford A , Tina Schmidt A , Andrew Buchanan A , Warittha Tieosapjaroen A B , Gerald Tataro A and Tiffany R. Phillips A B
A Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health, Melbourne, Vic. 3053, Australia.
B Central Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic. 3004, Australia.
C Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic. 3053, Australia.
Sexual Health 19(2) 148-150 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH22034
Submitted: 14 February 2022 Accepted: 1 March 2022 Published: 28 April 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing
Abstract
Self-taking oropharyngeal swabs for sexually transmitted infections such as gonorrhoea and chlamydia has become more common during the COVID-19 pandemic to minimise the risk to healthcare workers. However, there have been no standardised guidelines on sampling time for taking an oropharyngeal swab for gonorrhoea and chlamydia testing. We recruited 215 participants at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Australia, between November 2021 and January 2022. We asked participants to report the time they spent on self-taking the oropharyngeal swab. The median self-taking sampling time was 8 s (IQR = 5–12), and the time did not differ between oropharyngeal gonorrhoea positivity (P = 0.570) and oropharyngeal chlamydia positivity (P = 0.457).
Keywords: Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, pharyngeal, screening, self-collected, sexually transmitted diseases, sexually transmitted infection, throat.
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