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News Archives

  

Volume 2 No 27; 4 July 2008

 

Updated guidance on the management of STI outbreaks and incidents

Updated guidance on the management of outbreaks/incidents of sexually transmitted infections at a local or regional level, with details of national support arrangements, has been posted on the HPA website.

The 12-page document describes the main elements of a localised STI outbreak plan, including a flowchart for the identification, control and evaluation phases, and guidance on recognition/declaration of outbreaks, the process of convening outbreak teams, as well as the handling of less serious incidents.

Guidance for Managing STI Outbreaks and Incidents [1] has been produced by the HIV/STI Department (Centre for Infections) and the Local and Regional Services Division of the HPA, in collaboration with the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH); also in collaboration with the Public Health Medicine Environmental Group (PHMEG) and the British HIV Association.

The document comprises two sections:
•  Principles of managing outbreaks/incidents of sexually transmitted infections
•  Guidelines for managing local acute STI outbreaks

The second, main section describes how different organisations responsible for the control of STIs – particularly genitourinary medicine services, consultants in communicable disease control and directors of public health in PCTs – should collaborate with each other in the event of a suspected outbreak and, where appropriate, reach joint decisions on key issues.

The new guidance integrates into a single document previous web guidance and a toolkit on STI outbreaks and is intended to be a more succinct summary which will assist in recognition and management of acute outbreaks.

References

1. Guidance for managing STI outbreaks and incidents (May 2008), is available at: http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1214553002033

Head lice infection control advice

A report on the prevention and control of head louse infection, first published in 1998 [1], has been updated [2] by the Public Health Medicine Environmental Group (PHMEG), the national professional organisation for Consultants in Communicable Disease Control (CCDC) in Great Britain and Ireland.

The document was originally published without references, in the form of a concensus statement, because there was at the time insufficient high-quality scientific research evidence available for the production of authoritative, evidence-based policies. Since then the recommendations have been widely adopted, and have provided information both for the public (an accompanying video has also been produced) and as a basis for the development of local policy by professionals.

In contrast to the original 1998 Stafford report, the 2008 update is fully referenced and explicitly identifies the strength of evidence behind each recommendation. The distinction made between statements which are supported by research and those which rely on consensus among the authors allows specialists to identify areas of care where there they may reasonably exercise clinical judgment.

References

1. Public Health Medicine Environment Group. Head lice: a report for Consultants in Communicable Disease Control (the 'Stafford report'), 1998. Available at: http://www.phmeg.org.uk/

2. Public Health Medicine Environment Group. Head lice: evidence-based guidelines based on the Stafford report - 2008 update, 2008. Available at: http://www.phmeg.org.uk/