Record falls in chlamydia screen push (From Daily Echo)
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World record smashed in Southampton and Winchester chlamydia screening drive
3:10pm Monday 18th February 2013 in News
Students, front left to right, Megan Dilloway, Alex Cates and Zoe Blythe with the Sexual Health Team from Solent NHS Trust, at a world record attempt to get the most people screened for chlamydia in a day.
IT WAS one of the more bizarre world record attempts but it proved a huge success.
Hundreds of young people across Hampshire responded to the call of health bosses to Keep Calm and Get Tested to be part of a Guinness World Record bid for the most people tested for chlamydia in 24 hours.
And their call was answered with the world record being smashed as 767 people took the opportunity to get screened – 267 more than the 500 health bosses had been aiming for.
Specialist testing teams were in action at Southampton Solent and Winchester Universities, as well as Yate’s bar in Southampton to offer free tests to 15 to 25-year-olds for the sexually transmitted infection, which, if left untreated, can cause infertility for both men and women.
It came as the Daily Echo joined forces with Solent NHS Trust to back their mission to raise awareness of the infection, which has seen cases soar in the last 12 months, yet the number of those getting tested has remained static.
Latest figures have revealed that the number testing positive for the infection is set to soar over the next 12 months.
Within just five months 1,331 people tested positive in Hampshire and Southampton, compared to nearly 2,000 during the previous 12 months.
