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Introduction
The term sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) refers to a variety of clinical syndromes and infections caused by pathogens that can be acquired and transmitted through sexual activity. Physicians and other health-care providers play a critical role in preventing and treating STDs. These guidelines for the treatment of STDs are intended to assist with that effort. Although these guidelines emphasize treatment, prevention strategies and diagnostic recommendations also are discussed.
This document updates CDC's Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines, 2010 (1). These recommendations should be regarded as a source of clinical guidance rather than prescriptive standards; health-care providers should always consider the clinical circumstances of each person in the context of local disease prevalence. These guidelines are applicable to any patient-care setting that serves persons at risk for STDs, including family-planning clinics, HIV-care clinics, correctional health-care settings, private physicians' offices, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and other primary-care facilities. These guidelines focus on treatment and counseling and do not address other community services and interventions that are essential to STD/HIV prevention efforts.
Methods
These guidelines were developed by CDC staff and an independent workgroup for which members were selected on the basis of their expertise in the clinical management of STDs. Members of the multidisciplinary workgroup included representatives from federal, state, and local health departments; public- and private-sector clinical providers; clinical and basic science researchers; and numerous professional organizations. All workgroup members disclosed potential conflicts of interest; several members of the workgroup acknowledged receiving financial support for clinical research from commercial companies. All potential conflicts of interest are listed at the end of the workgroup member section.
In 2012, CDC staff and workgroup members were charged with identifying key questions regarding treatment and clinical management that were not addressed in the 2010 STD Treatment Guidelines (1). To answer these questions and synthesize new information available since publication of the 2010 Guidelines, workgroup members collaborated with CDC staff to conduct a systematic literature review using an extensive MEDLINE database evidence-based approach (e.g., using published abstracts and peer-reviewed journal articles). These reviews also focused on four principal outcomes of STD therapy for each individual disease or infection: 1) treatment of infection based on microbiologic eradication; 2) alleviation of signs and symptoms; 3) prevention of...