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Background Compliance with guidelines recommending extra-genital testing for GC/CT in HIV-infected men who have sex with men is variable. Proposed barriers to testing, such as patient reluctance and provider discomfort, could be eliminated by self-testing. In this study, we evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of extra-genital self-testing and assess the adequacy of an oral rinse for the diagnosis of GC/CT infections. Methods HIV-infected subjects receiving care at one of three military treatment facilities participated in this study. Subjects received standardized instructions on sample collection and participated in a questionnaire designed to evaluate acceptability of this method. In addition, all subjects underwent testing by their provider. Gen Probe Aptima Combo 2 assay was used for testing the swabs and the rinse. Results A total of 148 HIV-infected subjects (median age 43 years, 40% African-Americans and 35% Caucasians) enrolled in the study. Test results are tabulated below. Of the 126 oral rinses tested, 6 (4.7%) tested positive for GC and 1 for CT (0.8%). Of the 6 rinses testing positive for GC, 2 tested negative on concomitantly collected swabs, and 1 swab testing positive for GC was negative on the rinse. Of note, 2 swabs testing positive for GC on self-collection but negative on provider swabs tested positive on the rinse. Over 95% of the subjects indicated that they understood the instructions and had collected the swabs as instructed. Most subjects (≥90%) indicated that they were comfortable collecting the swabs and oral rinses at home. Approximately15% of the subjects preferred that their providers collected the swabs. Conclusion In this study, self-collected samples yielded more positive results than provider collected samples, and the performance of oral rinses and pharyngeal swabs were similar. Our results suggest self-testing is a feasible and acceptable method for collecting extra-genital samples. Adoption of self-testing could improve compliance with the guidelines. Test Results By Anatomical Site and Collection Method Provider Self Self Provider Rectal GC 5 (3.4%) 5 (3.4%) Concordant Pharyngeal GC 8 (5.4%) 6 (4.1%) Discordant Rectal CT 4 (2.7%) 6 (4.1%) Discordant Pharyngeal CT 1 (0.7%) 2 (1.3%) Discordant Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures. |
