Expedited Partner Therapy | Questions & Answers | 2010 Treatment Guidelines

Answer:

Patients diagnosed with chlamydia should be instructed to refer their sex partners for evaluation, testing, and treatment if they had sexual contact with the patient during the 60 days preceding onset of the patient’s symptoms or diagnosis (the most recent sex partner should be evaluated and treated, even if the time of the last sexual contact was >60 days before symptom onset or diagnosis). Some partners may not seek evaluation and treatment. In such cases, for heterosexual partners of patients diagnosed with chlamydia, CDC recommends azithromycin 1.0 g orally in a single dose, or doxycycline 100 mg orally twice a day for 7 days. Alternative EPT regimens for chlamydia include erythromycin base 500 mg orally four times a day for 7 days, or erythromycin ethylsuccinate 800 mg orally four times a day for 7 days, or levofloxacin 500 mg orally once daily for 7 days, or ofloxacin 300 mg orally twice a day for 7 days. When providing EPT for chlamydia, consider concurrent treatment for gonococcal infection if the prevalence of gonorrhea is high in the patient population.

For all patients with gonorrhea, every effort should be made to ensure that the patients' sex partners from the preceding 60 days are evaluated and treated for N. gonorrhoeae with a recommended regimen. If a heterosexual partner of a patient cannot be linked to evaluation and treatment in a timely fashion, then expedited partner therapy should be considered, using oral combination antimicrobial therapy for gonorrhea (cefixime 400 mg and azithromycin 1 g) delivered to the partner by the patient, a disease investigation specialist, or through a collaborating pharmacy. The patient should return 1 week after treatment for a test-of-cure at the infected anatomic site. The test-of-cure ideally should be performed with culture or with a NAAT for N. gonorrhoeae if culture is not readily available. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6131a3.htm