This unorthodox experiment is one of several strategies being advanced in locations across the country. The examples sometimes push the envelope in terms of accepted medical practice and screening policies. Most experts attribute the high numbers to increased rates of screening and improvements in screening technology. However, they also maintain that the statistics reflect the sheer difficulty involved in controlling an infection that usually has no symptoms, is highly contagious and primarily affects adolescents and young adults. There are other challenges in play.
Treatment is simple and inexpensive, with many patients cured after a single dose of antibiotics.
But at the same time, Chlamydia infection is so prevalent that contact tracing by public health departments to find infections and provide necessary treatment is financially and logistically impossible. Moreover, untreated chlamydiosis has dire and costly consequences, particularly for women. The move by the San Francisco Health Plan, a nonprofit that covers more than 28,000 lower-income individuals, is a response to all these forces. It comes on the heels of new legislation in California allowing doctors to write a prescription for the partner of someone who is diagnosed with chlamydiosis without being vulnerable to charges of unprofessional conduct under the state's Medical Practice Act. Often you can't get the partner in for care.