Recommendation for your practice: Screen all young women every year for Chlamydia, CDC urges

With a rising rate of infection, comprehensive screening of the most vulnerable population is a vital undertaking

Senior Editor

All sexually active women younger than 26 years should be screened annually for Chlamydia trachomatis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). although that recommendation isn’t new, it remains a critical component of efforts to reduce the number of new cases, said John M. Douglas, Jr, MD, Director of the CDC’s Division of Sexually transmitted Disease Prevention, during a telebriefing november 13.

Almost 50% of all sexually transmitted infections (STIs) occur among people 15 to 24 years—and young women 15 to 19 years have the highest rate of C. trachomatis infection, followed closely by women 19 to 24¹.