Partner notification
The Partner notification is a way to interrupt the chain of infection with sexually transmitted diseases . The Anglicism partner notification can also be found in German-language literature .
Partner notification means that the partners of a person with a sexually transmitted disease are informed and referred for medical treatment or advice. Possibly infected partners of a newly discovered infected person are informed either by the patient himself or by the doctor. The epidemic laws in the democratic countries regulate the exact procedure.
In syphilis , for example, around every second sexual intimate partner of a person suffering from syphilis is infected. About 30% of the sexual partners of the person suffering from syphilis showed no symptoms within 30 days of sexual contact. Nevertheless, they were infected and would get syphilis without treatment. Therefore, identifying and treating all recent sexual partners of someone with syphilis is an essential aspect of combating syphilis.
The research group led by Nathan Clumeck from Belgium described a successful partner notification program for HIV infection in the renowned “New England Journal of Medicine”. When a Belgian woman fell ill with AIDS in Antwerp, the research team began tracking the chain of infection. The woman indicated an African man (= index patient) as the only possible chain of infection. The doctors contacted the man and questioned him. He also remembered the names of 17 Belgian and one African women with whom he had had sexual contact over the past three years. These have been informed; three had already tested HIV positive and 14 of them consented to an HIV test. Seven others were HIV positive, for a total of 11 of the 18 women. These in turn partly indicated their sexual partners for the further partner notification.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Diagnosis and therapy of the syphilis AWMF guideline, status 2014 (pdf)
- ↑ Efficacy of partner notification for HIV infection. Giesecke Johan et al. Lancet 1991; 338: 1096-1100
- ^ A Cluster of HIV Infection among Heterosexual Peaople without Apparent Risk Factors. Clumeck Nathan. Et al. The New England Journal of Medecine. 1989; 321: 1460-1462