Expedited Partner Therapy: Breaking the Cycle of Repeated STIs

Reexposure to an untreated sex partner commonly leads to repeated genital infection with Chlamydia trachomatis (chlamydia) or Neisseria gonorrhoeae (gonorrhea)¹ while increasing women's risk for reproductive tract sequelae such as pelvic inflammatory disease and ectopic pregnancy.² Expedited partner therapy (EPT) — the practice of providing treatment for a patient's sex partners without an intervening medical evaluation of those partners — represents a simple way to treat sex partners, interrupt the cycle of repeated sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and impede ongoing transmission. Clinicians who provide EPT offer their patients medication in-hand or in the form of prescriptions to deliver to their sex partners, thereby facilitating …