Prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among young people in South Africa: A nested survey in a health and demographic surveillance site

Sexual minority men found finger-stick blood and rectal swabs more challenging to self-collect than other specimens. Barriers to returning samples included low confidence in self-collection and concerns about transit delays, while motivators were status confirmation and limited clinic access; real-time video support could improve uptake in future decentralised testing programmes.

Perceptions and Experiences of Returning Self-collected Specimens for HIV, Bacterial STI and Potential PrEP Adherence Testing among Sexual Minority Men in the United States — Sharma et al., AIDS and behavior · source ↗

• blood
• urine
• self-collection
• acceptability
• serology
• sti

Higher engagement in regular HIV and STI testing was associated with incident STIs and health seeking behaviours, and participants rated self-sampling as convenient.

Regular Testing of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections With Self-Collected Samples From Multiple Anatomic Sites to Monitor Sexual Health in Men Who Have Sex With Men: Longitudinal Study — Wong et al., JMIR formative research · source ↗

• acceptability
• blood
• sti
• self-collection
• serology
• urine

Among 92 patients on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, 79.3 per cent returned home-collected kits comprising dried blood spots, urine, and oropharyngeal swabs. Nearly 87.7 per cent were extremely to moderately satisfied with avoiding clinic visits, and mean turnaround fell from 17 to 5 days, showing self-collection is a feasible, patient-centric model for decentralised sexual health and SARS-CoV-2 screening.

Feasibility and Acceptability of Home-Collected Samples for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Preexposure Prophylaxis and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Laboratory Tests in San Francisco Primary Care Clinics — Saberi et al., Open forum infectious diseases · source ↗

• blood
• urine
• dried
• dbs
• self-collection
• acceptability
• serology
• sti

Intervention mapping identified stigma, privacy, and time constraints as key barriers to self-sampling for HIV and sexually transmitted infections among men who have sex with men. Developing tailored digital outreach, role-model narratives, and peer-to-peer test distribution addresses these barriers to support uptake of remote home self-collection programs.

Systematic Development of an Intervention to Promote Self-Sampling for HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections for Men Who Have Sex With Men: An Intervention Mapping Approach — Leenen et al., Frontiers in reproductive health · source ↗

• acceptability
• blood
• sti
• self-collection
• serology
• urine

The study found that self-collection of dried blood spots and other samples using at-home kits was a useful and cost-effective method for screening a large cohort for sexually transmitted infections outside a clinic. This demonstrates the feasibility of decentralised, patient-centric sampling for population-level infectious disease surveillance.

Prevalence of chlamydial, gonococcal and syphilis positivity by anatomical site and sex via self-collected biospecimens using at-home testing kits among a large and diverse cohort of men and women enrolled in the MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MWCCS) in the USA — Mimiaga et al., Sexually transmitted infections (paywalled) · source ↗

• blood
• sti
• dbs
• self-collection
• dried
• serology
• bd-microtainer
• urine