47. Pilot Study of Self-Collected Pharyngeal Testing for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea in the Setting of COVID19 Restrictions

Abstract

Given that many youth and young adults utilize multiple orifices during sexual activity, testing for STIs from multiple anatomical sites can increase rates of diagnosis. However, during the COVID19 pandemic, obtaining oral swabs by clinical staff was deemed an unacceptable COVID19 transmission risk and was discontinued in our clinic. To circumvent this obstacle to diagnosis, clinic staff developed a workaround of obtaining patient collected pharyngeal swabs for STI testing. This abstract reviews the results of this pilot intervention.