The new type of DNA test allows for a urine specimen to be unrefrigerated for relatively long periods of time before testing. As you know, gonorrhea and chlamydia are the two most common bacterial sexually transmitted infections and are at elevated rates among several communities in San Francisco. For all of these reasons, the Department is trying Postal Screening in an attempt to reach those that do not regularly seek STD screening. Postal Screening allows people to be tested without leaving the privacy of their own homes. Individuals pick up a testing kit or receive them by mail, provide a urine specimen, and mail it back in the boxes provided.
Testing is free and confidential.
Names are requested to provide a reliable method of contact should the test be positive. This form of screening is entirely new and, like many of the programs coming out of Dr. Klausner's STD Branch, is unprecedented in the United States. I will keep the Commission apprised of the test outcomes. Newcomers Health Program Newcomers Health Program of the Community Health Promotion and Prevention Branch would like to congratulate staff member, Samira Causevic, for being chosen by refugee service providers in San Francisco to represent them at the 2000 National Women's Refugee Leadership Conference. Joe was instrumental in the development of key IT functions for the Department.