Expedited Partner Therapy for Sexually Transmitted Diseases

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Abstract
In this issue of the Clinical Infectious Diseases, Kissinger et al. [1] present the findings of a randomized, controlled trial of patient-delivered partner therapy (PDPT) for male urethritis. This study, the third in a series of 3 randomized, controlled trials conducted in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to evaluate PDPT for bacterial sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), found that men who were provided with medication to give to their sex partners were more likely to report that their partners were treated and less likely to be infected 1 month after receipt of treatment. The trial is the largest study to date of PDPT for men, included a substantial number of persons with gonorrhea, and is the first study conducted among a predominantly African American STD clinic population in the inner city. Thus, the trial extends the findings of previous studies to a new population and substantially increases the available data on PDPT for patients with gonorrhea. Because this is the last of the CDC trials to be published, the time is ripe to assess where we stand with PDPT.