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

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

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

Home-based self-collection of urine and vaginal swabs proved acceptable to young South Africans, with most finding it easy and not embarrassing. The study detected high rates of asymptomatic sexually transmitted infections that would be missed by routine care, supporting decentralised surveillance and screening programmes in low- and middle-income settings.

Prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among young people in South Africa: A nested survey in a health and demographic surveillance site — Francis et al., PLoS medicine · source ↗

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

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