Women Contacts of Men with Gonorrhea

During a 12-month period intensive case-finding services (interviewing of patients and tracing of contacts) were provided to 255 women contacts of men who had gonorrhea. Approximately three contacts per case were evaluated, and 50% (374 of 739) of the male contacts were infected. If the 255 symptomatic men whose infection led to (and preceded) enrollment in our study population are excluded, 484 contacts remain, of whom 119 (24.6%) were infected. Nearly half (57 of 119) of the infected contacts were asymptomatic. Active public health intervention was frequently necessary to persuade asymptomatic men to seek medical attention. We recommend that case-finding services be offered to women with gonorrhea who initially present as contacts of infected men.