Sti Podcast

Dr. George Kinghorn, genitourinary medicine physician with 35 years' experience, talks to Dr. Maryam Shahmanesh (Consultant and Senior Lecturer at the University College London and Mortimer Market Centre) about the “dramatic changes” introduced in the treatment of STIs with the Venereal Disease Act 1917. Professor George Kinghorn also analyses how the effects of the easier access to travel, the introduction of the contraceptive pill and the decriminalisation of homosexuality lead to a “rapid increase in the number of sexually transmitted infections” in the last 40 years and which translated into an increasing need for specialists. Commenting on the particular case of the UK, Dr Kinghorn advocates the need for specialised services in the NHS, saying that an “urgent access to [STI clinics] services is essential to preserve low-cost control of STIs”. He also looks to the main future challenges in this medical field. The interview is one of two podcasts published by the Sexually Transmitted Infections journal

How can burdens and trends of gonorrhoea and syphilis be estimated using surveillance data routinely collected in low- and middle-income countries? Eline Korenromp, epidemiologist from the Avenir Health, Geneva, Switzerland, tells STI Editor Jackie Cassell how the Spectrum-STI tool, developed at request of the World Health Organization, facilitates standardised, country-level estimation of trends in adult prevalence of sexually transmitted infections. The Spectrum-STI is an epidemiological framework which facilitates data review, validation and strategic analysis, prioritisation of data collection needs and surveillance strengthening by national experts. It has so far been applied in Zimbabwe, Morocco and Mongolia. Read the full details of the study, “Estimating prevalence trends in adult gonorrhoea and syphilis in low- and middle-income countries with the Spectrum-STI model: results for Zimbabwe and Morocco from 1995 to 2016”, on the STI website (http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2016-052953).

Audit vs. Quality Improvement Methodology. How to undertake quality improvement and integrate it into GUM and HIV services? Hanna Bos, from the Municipal Health Service of Deventer, The Netherlands, discusses with Anna Hartley, one of the authors of a article, which explores the premise that true quality improvement methodology is poorly understood and poorly used in the NHS. Dr. Hartley, from the Ambrose King Centre, Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK, brings some examples to the discussion to illustrate why audits alone cannot bring about continual improvement. "How to integrate quality improvement into GUM and HIV services" is the title of the study that can be found here: http://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2016/08/22/sextrans-2016-052732.

In this podcast, Jackie Cassell, the Editor in Chief of STI, talks to Anatole Menon-Johansson, from the Department of Sexual Health, Guy's & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK, about partner notification technologies. The STI blog post "Improving Partner Notification with a new online tool from SXT Health CIC [Community Interest Company]" is the starting point for a broad conversation about why is partner notification on STIs so important, what's the tool about and what the future holds in the digital era. Read the blog post here: http://blogs.bmj.com/sti/2016/05/05/improving-partner-notification-with-a-new-online-tool-from-sxt-health-cic-from-anatole-menon-johansson/. On the STI website: - Claudia Estcourt study on Accelerated Partner Treatment for primary care: http://sti.bmj.com/content/91/8/548.full.pdf+html?sid=17d93526-4a85-4ae6-a34b-7a603dd67873. - Hannelore Götz study of an online partner notification tool: "Initial evaluation of use of an online partner notification tool for STI,

In this podcast we explore the management of STI outbreaks. Ian Simms, of the HIV & STI Department, Public Health England, interviews two authors who have managed STI outbreaks. Kirsty Foster, of the Public Health England North East, investigated an outbreak of gonorrhoea in young heterosexual adults in that area of the UK. Read the full letter here: http://sti.bmj.com/content/92/5/364.full. Giri Shankar, of the Health Protection Team, Public Health England, talks about hepatitis B in the East of the country. He studied and managed an outbreak of the infection in men who have sex with men but identify as heterosexual. Read the full text here: http://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2016/01/04/sextrans-2015-052490.full. The STI Outbreaks issue, which was published in August 2016, was guest edited by Gwenda Hughes and Ian Simms. It includes articles that explore epidemics, clusters, changes in antibiotic resistance, changes in behaviours that increase the chance of outbreaks, as well as considering how we resp

What do we know about sexual behaviour when travelling? Are backpackers and gap year travellers a special group? These are some of the questions Christopher Lewis, from the University of Birmingham, and Dr Clare Tanton, from the UCL's Centre for Sexual Health and HIV research, answer in this podcast. They are the authors of two recent studies published at sti.bmj.com. Read the full studies: 'Sexual behaviour of backpackers who visit Koh Tao and Koh Phangan, Thailand: a cross-sectional study', by Dr Christopher Lewis, is accessible here: http://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2016/04/19/sextrans-2015-052301.full. 'Forming new sex partnerships while overseas: findings from the third British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes & Lifestyles (Natsal-3)', by Dr Clare Tanton is available here: http://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2016/04/19/sextrans-2015-052459.full. Read the related STI Editorial: 'The Holy Grail of prevention of sexually transmitted infections in travelers' by Dr. Alberto Matteelli (http://sti.bmj.

In this podcast, Dr Khalil Ghanem discusses ocular syphilis with the authors of two studies. Dr Susan Tuddenham, from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, is the author of 'Increasing Case Reports of Ocular Syphilis in the United States: An Opportunity to Address Important Unanswered Questions', accessible here: http://goo.gl/cPcbLM and Dr Motoyuki Tsuboi, from the AIDS Clinical Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, is the author of 'Prognosis of ocular syphilis in HIV-infected patients in the antiretroviral therapy era': http://goo.gl/giAx9s .

A lot has changed since the last study among shipboard populations has been conducted, about 20 years ago. What is the health of shipboard military personnel and why is it important to study their sexual health? How is life in a deployment? How can the findings of this study apply to civilian populations? In this podcast, Judith Harbertson of San Diego State University and US Military HIV Research Program talks to Tom Nadarzynski, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, about these questions and the main conclusions of the study. Read the related article: Sexually transmitted infections and sexual behaviour of deploying shipboard US military personnel: a cross-sectional analysis goo.gl/5GPm2D

In this podcast Dr Katy Turner talks to Dr Vincent Cornelisse about his recently published paper "Summer Heat: A cross-sectional analysis of seasonal differences in sexual behaviour and sexually transmissible diseases in Melbourne, Australia". They discuss the seasonal differences in sexual activity and disease transmission across different sexual pairings and the seasons. Full text: http://sti.bmj.com/content/early/2015/11/05/sextrans-2015-052225.full?sid=1b9dd132-b40c-4e25-afb6-995380d28d03

In this podcast Dr Katy Turner talks to Dr Jane Hocking at the ISSTDR conference in Brisbane, Australia. They discuss Dr Hocking's preliminary results from a Chlamydia screening trial across Australia and the logistics for testing and collecting data across such a large area.

In this podcast Dr Katy Turner talks to PhD student Hayley Denison at the ISSTDR conference in Brisbane. They discuss the differences studying for a PhD in New Zealand compared to the UK and how social media has helped people keep up to date at conferences.

How does drug use feed into STI transmission in men who have sex with men? What kinds of behaviours happen, and how can clinicians discuss these issues with men and best help them? In this podcast Adam Bourne, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and David Stuart, substance use lead at the 56 Dean Street sexual health clinic, discuss the issues and offer their advice. Read the related article: Illicit drug use in sexual settings (‘chemsex’) and HIV/STI transmission risk behaviour among gay men in South London: findings from a qualitative study http://goo.gl/u6xubb

Simon Barton, Clinical Director, HIV & Sexual Health, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, London, talks to Joseph D Tucker, International Diagnostics Centre, Keppel Street, London, about his editorial on how the history of syphilis cures provides some guidance on preparing for a HIV cure. More information about the working group can be found here http://searchiv.web.unc.edu/ Read the full editorial: http://sti.bmj.com/content/91/1/2.full

Nicola Low, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland, talks to Tom Edge, writer of the Channel 4 sitcom Scrotal Recall, a drama where a young man explores his past relationships via contact tracing after discovering he has chlamydia. Tom discusses the medicine and research behind the writing, and the tensions between storytelling and science.

Prevalence studies indicate approximately 10% of patients in HIV clinics may be infected with Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) and/or Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) at any given time, and a study recently published in STI by Burchell and colleagues reveals that a modest increase in testing in their clinic did not improve detection of CT and NG. Khalil Ghanem, STI associate editor, asks Stephen Berry, Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, to comment on the paper and what can be done to improve detection of NG and CT. Read Dr Berry's full editorial: http://goo.gl/ABefHz Read Burchell et al's paper: Modest rise in chlamydia and gonorrhoea testing did not increase case detection in a clinical HIV cohort in Ontario, Canada http://goo.gl/JPsp2e

STI associate editor Katy Turner talks to Kyle Jones, Infection & Population Health, University College London, about his studying examining who in the UK pays for sex.

Jennifer Smith, STI associate editor, talks to Matthew Schabath, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, US, about his paper: Alcohol consumption and prevalence of human papillomavirus infection among US men in the HIM (HPV in Men) Study http://goo.gl/kVaHcm

Dr Clare Tanton, UCL's Centre for Sexual Health and HIV research, and Soazig Clifton, NatCen Social Research, both researchers on The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (http://natsal.ac.uk) join us to discuss the survey, how it was carried out, and some of the reaction to their findings. Read the papers online: What's new about Natsal-3: http://goo.gl/IDaRYN Consistency in reporting sensitive sexual behaviours in Britain: http://goo.gl/Zu5qzc Methodology of Natsal-3: http://goo.gl/y85Aw6

Barbara Van Der Pol, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Dermot Hurly and Monika Buehrer-Skinner, both Anton Breinl Centre for Public Health and Tropical Medicine, James Cook University, have a conversation about issues related to chlamydia point-of-care tests and the need to continually assess the performance of these assays in real-use settings. Read the full paper here: bit.ly/1nizXj5

To go alongside this month's special STI issue on Trichomonas vaginalis, Dr Scott McClelland, Departments of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Global Health, University of Washington, and Prof Sharon Hillier, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, talk about our current understanding of the condition, and future clinical and academic directions. View all the content from the special issue here: http://sti.bmj.com/content/89/6.toc