Disruptions of sexually transmitted and blood borne infections testing services during the COVID-19 pandemic: accounts of service providers in Ontario, Canada
Ryu et al.
The finding, in our words
Sexual health service providers in Ontario found self-sampling and virtual models for STBBI testing highly acceptable during COVID-19, viewing them as more convenient, accessible and safer than clinic-based testing while filling critical service gaps caused by pandemic resource reallocation. This real-world experience demonstrates the feasibility of decentralised, patient-centric STBBI testing and supports sustaining these models as essential healthcare.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
A study of 2500 women found 99.0% agreement between first-void urine and vaginal self-sampling for HPV detection using Cobas4800, with 98.1% of participants preferring urine. Although conducted in a resource-limited setting which may limit generalisability, these results support urine as a viable sample type for decentralised, patient-centric screening.
First-void urine and self-collected vaginal swabs showed similar sensitivity and specificity to clinician-collected cervical samples for high-risk HPV detection across two real-time PCR assays, supporting their use as decentralised, patient-collected alternatives; most women preferred first-void urine for regular cervical screening.
A et al., Journal of gynecologic oncology (paywalled) · source ↗
This randomised sub-study found return rates of 10.4% for Colli-Pee, 10.1% for FLOQSwabs and 7.4% for Evalyn-Brush. All devices yielded sufficient DNA with low invalid rates, but the authors noted the study was limited by low overall participation.
Hempel et al., Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · source ↗
Self-sampling for HPV testing using urine and swab devices achieved high DNA detection rates, 92.1-99.7%, and very high participant acceptance, 99.1%, in a primary care population, supporting decentralised screening in low-resource settings.
Community pharmacy-based testing and treatment for chlamydia and gonorrhoea using self-collected first-catch urine was highly acceptable to users and successfully identified new cases, with pharmacists efficiently prescribing antibiotic treatment. This supports decentralised sampling by showing that asymptomatic STI testing can be delivered through self-collection in non-clinical settings with good uptake and patient satisfaction.
d'Entremont-Harris et al., Journal of the American Pharmacists Association : JAPhA (paywalled) · source ↗