Manchester Royal Infirmary doctor is poster award winner at British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) annual conference
A presentation about a national research project, that a doctor from Manchester Royal Infirmary was Principal Investigator for, has picked up the best poster prize at the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) annual conference.
The poster for a collaborative study conducted by Public Health England, Mortimer Market Centre, University College London and Manchester Royal Infirmary, was announced as the presentation winner during the event in Oxford from 10th to 12th July.
Dr Gabriel Schembri, Consultant in Sexual Health and HIV medicine/Research Lead at The Hathersage Integrated Contraception, Sexual Health and HIV Service (part of Manchester Royal Infirmary), was the Principal Investigator for the Time to Retest (T2R2) study, which the poster explained more about.
The research looked to determine the time taken for nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) to become negative following treatment for Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoea in men and women. A sub-study within this project also investigated the stability of self-collected urine samples for PCR analysis.
The study, which was completed in 2015, was funded by grants from BASHH and the Sexually Transmitted Infection Research Foundation (STIRF); and supported by the NIHR and Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust Camden Provider Services.
Dr Schembri said:
I am so pleased to have been honoured with the special award for our work.
“In recent years there has been an increase in the rates of sexually transmitted infections such as chlamydia and gonorrhoea. We know that the NAATs tests which are used routinely to diagnose these infections will remain positive for some time after treatment, but we were unsure exactly when the tests become negative following successful treatment.
“The aim of this study was to determine the appropriate time interval after which NAATs for genital, throat and rectal chlamydia and gonorrhoea in men and women become negative. We hope that the information from this study will be used to inform future guidelines relating to treatment of and re-testing for Chlamydia and gonorrhoea infections. I would like to thank all the individuals who contributed towards this trial, including the clinical staff at all participating sites and all the research participants.”
Clockwise: Dr Schembri, Dr McQuillan and Dr Saxon
Dr Orla McQuillan, Consultant in Genitourinary Medicine and Clinical Director of The Hathersage, and Dr Cara Saxon, Consultant in Sexual Health and HIV, were also in attendance at the BASHH conference.
Dr McQuillan co-hosted a workshop on the launch of online BASHH standards for outreach testing. She also gave a presentation around mental health and HIV prescribing, which Eleanor Draeger, Deputy Chair of the British Medical Association Consultants Committee described on Twitter as: “Best talk of the conference so far.”
Dr Saxon spoke during a plenary session on quality improvement achievements following a national audit last year, around the management of 13 to 15 year olds attending sexual health services.
