The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) STD CTU is the product of over a decade of institutional prioritization of sexually transmitted diseases (STD), as both a research and public health priority. After three productive years made possible by partial funding of the UAB STD CRC by NIAID, this application builds on productive years made possible by partial funding of the UAB STD CRC by NIAID, this application builds on the increasing momentum of a still expanding interdisciplinary, public health-oriented STD research effort. Partners in the current proposal include basic scientists, clinicians, behavioral scientists, epidemiologists, and biostatisticians from two Schools (Medicine and Public Health) at UAB, the Jefferson Country Department of Health, and two UAB-affiliated hospitals , The Children's Hospital of Alabama and The Cooper Green Hospital. The current application emphasizes efforts to translate cutting edge research methods into more effective interventions to reduce STD morbidity and sequelae with a strong focus (two of four projects) on adolescents, the population subgroup with the highest rates of STD acquisition. Utilizing two Cores Biostatistical and Laboratory), the four main projects in this application include: a project to further characterize the origins and pathogenesis of bacterial vaginosis (BV), the most common cause of vaginal discharge in women, and the contribution of BV to modification of susceptibility for STD acquisition in women; an epidemiologic study of douching behavior in women and a behavioral intervention to reduce this behavior in high risk women; a behavioral intervention to reduce bacterial STD transmission and complications by encouraging the large proportion (over 20%) of infected persons detected through STD screening who currently fail to do so to obtain their test results and to seek timely treatment using a newly developed interactive multimedia, computerized system which simultaneously provides an individualized intervention and collects data on the client; and a project which capitalizes on the potential screening opportunities providing by nucleic acid amplification tests for detection of gonococcal and chlamydial infections to reach high risk adolescents through the first randomized controlled trial of traditional partner notification via social- and sexual-network based urine screening for these infections.
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