Does gonorrhoea surveillance pay?

In previous studies which emphasised the role of the urban community hospital in gonorrhoea surveillance, the effectiveness of the communitywide screening programme in reducing serious complications of the disease in women has been stressed (Rendtorff et al., 1976, 1977). While the rate of gonorrhoea has remained essentially at the same level during the past four years, the incidence of pelvic inflammatory disease and salpingitis among patients admitted to the City of Memphis Hospital has shown a marked decline since the surveillance programme was set up in MemphisShelby County, Tennessee, in 1968. 'It is conceivable that a continuing surveillance programme for gonorrhoea in women, reaching a large segment of the population at risk, may have no impact upon the infection rate, which is primarily a behavioural problem, but it may nevertheless stop the infection from progressing to pelvic inflammatory disease by treating early infections' (Rendtorff et al., 1977). This suggestion that a surveillance programme might be successful in reducing the incidence of complications of gonorrhoea in women prompted us to look further into the situation in Memphis.