Sex Partner Treatment of Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Infections

All partners of patients who test positive for Chlamydia or Gonorrhea should be treated as if they are infected.

If a physician takes responsibility to ensure partner treatment, the provider should examine and treat all of the persons the patient had sex with in the 60 days prior to the date the patient was tested.

If this is not possible, patients may be given medication to give to their sex partners. This is called Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT). More information about EPT, including the efficacy of EPT, can be found at the CDC's website http://www.cdc.gov/std/ept

Patient instruction sheets are available under the provider link on the right side of this page. The patient instructions sheets for gonorrhea include treatment for chlamydia too, because without a definitive negative test result for chlamydia, the CDC recommends treating all partners exposed to Gonorrhea for Chlamydia, as well (STD Treatment Guidelines, p. 46 MMWR, August 4, 2006).

You may also help your patients who test positive for STD to notify their partners by referring them to www.inspot.org/idaho At this website, clients can send a confidential email to their partners, notifying them of exposure. The website also has information about where to get tested, how to talk to your partners and how to prevent STDs and HIV.