Evaluation of Patients Who were Referred to Our Outpatient Clinic with Suspicious Sexual Contact

Abstract

Aim: Sexually transmitted infections are preventable, common diseases with serious complications and high morbidity. Patients with suspicious sexual contact in Turkish society, find it difficult to consult a physician due to public pressure. Patients with suspicious sexual contact who applied to the Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology outpatient clinic were analyzed. Material and Methods: Patients (62 patients) over the age of 18, who applied to Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology outpatient clinic with suspicious sexual contact, between March 2018-January 2019, were included in the study. The demographic characteristics of the patients such as age, gender, marital status; also complaints, using of condom, physical examination findings, and all examinations during the six-month follow-up were recorded. Results: In this study, 56 (90%) male and 6 (10%) female patients with a mean age of 33.40 ± 14.11 years were included. High percentage (58;93%) of patients didn’t use condoms during sexual contact, 21(34%) of the patients had more than one partner, the most common diagnosis was urethritis (21; 34%), one patient in a bisexual relationship was diagnosed with acute HIV infection, and was observed that the diagnosis of syphilis (9; 15%) was quite high. Conclusion: Results such as the low rate of use of condoms made us think that there is a lack of knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases in the society. Considering the possibility of increasing infection rates in the coming years; we think that the necessary importance should be given to sexually transmitted diseases and frequent public trainings should be provided.