| Success for home chlamydia test |
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Chlamydia test kits are now on sale both at pharmacies and online. The test is carried out at home but analysed in a quality-assured laboratory. The founding company, Dynamic Code, is thoroughly delighted with the launch. The chlamydia test has been available at pharmacies for only two months, but already 150–200 samples are being sent in from all over Sweden every week. ‘This figure far exceeds expectations and it’s rising all the time. Interest is keen,’ says Anne Kihlgren, CEO of Dynamic Code, a member of New Tools for Health. Answer online The test is carried out at home and the sample then sent for analysis at a quality-assured laboratory. Men submit urine samples and women vaginal samples. Testers sign a packing slip with their Swedish personal ID number and keep note of a code at home. The answer is available online after a few days. ‘We want a different niche from self-testing kits, which give you the answer straightaway. This is much more reliable,’ Anne Kihlgren says. If the result is positive, the user is referred to a doctor and told how to make an appointment. Positive test results for chlamydia are always reported to the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control. Finding unrecorded cases The background to these tests is the rising incidence of chlamydia, with the unrecorded cases that the healthcare services cannot reach. ‘This is a complementary means of self-help for people who stay away from health centres. It’s particularly suitable because something like this may feel a bit awkward and embarrassing,’ Kihlgren points out. County Council too Since April this year, the County Council has also been using the online chlamydia-testing service. Up to mid-August, a total of about 1,000 residents of the region had ordered a chlamydia test through the County Council’s website, www.klamydiatest.nu. ‘We think the result is really good. For example, we reach young adults this way. We’ve also had difficulty getting boys and men to have tests done. Twenty-five per cent wouldn’t have done anything at all if this service hadn’t existed,’ relates Anders Ehinger, STD coordinator at Östergötland County Council. Safe for the user The County Council chose Dynamic Code’s product rather than other online tests, such as the one available at www.klamydia.se, for several reasons. First, the selected product has CE marking; secondly, it fulfils the County Council’s data-security requirements. The test costs 298 kronor and is on sale at pharmacies, through www.dynamiccode.se and at the County Council’s website, www.klamydiatest.nu. |
