We are using an agent-based, site-specific model to study the transmission of gonorrhoea and other sexually transmitted diseases among men-who-have-sex-with-men. This is studied in the context of pre-emptively taking anti-viral drugs as a prophylactic measure against HIV. The availability of such a measure sometimes leads to the reduced use of other precautions such as condoms, which are also protective against other STIs such as gonorrhoea. We are therefore interested in the effect of reduced condom use on STI transmission.
Recent work [1,2] suggests that gonorrhoea is capable of colonising the pharynx (back of the throat) without symptoms, and that such infections act as a reservoir for further transmission. We are particularly interested in the role of kissing and various forms of oral-sexual contact on gonorrhoea epidemiology.
[1] Holt Martin, Lea Toby, Mao Limin, Zablotska Iryna, Lee Evelyn, Hull Peter, de Wit John B. F., Prestage Garrett (2016) Adapting behavioural surveillance to antiretroviral-based HIV prevention: reviewing and anticipating trends in the Australian Gay Community Periodic Surveys. Sexual Health 14, 72-79.
[2] Chow EPF, Tabrizi SN, Phillips S, Lee D, Bradshaw CS, Chen MY, Fairley CK. 2016. Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacterial DNA load in the pharynges and saliva of men who have sex with men. J Clin Microbiol 54:2485–2490.
[3] Hui B, Fairley CK, Chen M, et al. Oral and anal sex are key to sustaining gonorrhoea at endemic levels in MSM populations: a mathematical model Sex Transm Infect 2015;91:365-369.