engleski

Do patients with STI know which infections are sexually transmitted ?

Many campaigns in the media and educational programs in schools aim to inform the population about sexually transmitted infections. But the question is wheather the patients with STI are informed, and wheather they know which infections are sexually transmitted and which are not? The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the knowledge of patients with STI about these infections. During a period of 3 months, 49 patients with STI were asked to identify STI or their causing agents among diseases and infectious microorganisms that are very common in the population and not related to STI. Syphilis was recognized as an STI by 81.6% of patients, gonorrhea in 51.0%, HIV in 95.9%, Chlamydia trachomatis in 69.4%, genital warts in 67.4%, HPV in 59.2%, Herpes simplex in 42.9%, hepatitis B in 51.0%, hepatitis C in 69.4% of the cases. Diabetes, psoriasis and hypertension were always correctly indicated as non STI, while hepatitis A was indicated as a sexually transmitted disease in 51.0% cases. A more professional term for genital warts, condylomata acuminata, was recognized exactly only by 28.6% of patients. Also, some parameters that could have influenced their knowledge were analyzed. More detailed and larger studies are needed to investigate the knowledge about STI in the general population and especially among patients with STI. That could be useful to understand which informations are lacking for patients to prevent STI.

Syphilis; Chlamydia trachomatis; HIV; Gonorrhea; HPV

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