”Partners of people who have a sexually transmitted infection need to be tested and treated as well.”

”She doesn’t have it,” he said.

”And you think so because you are not having sex with her?”

”Of course we are having sex…”

”So do you use a condom?”

”No.”

”So she might have caught it from you.”
He was silent.

”Chlamydia infection can be serious for women, you see. It can cause infertility, constant pelvic pain, miscarriage and ectopic pregnancies.The good news is that it can be easily treated with antibiotics if detected early and then it wouldn’t have a chance to cause the things I have mentioned.”

”Well, this was two years ago and I am not going to drag this up now. My wife will kill me!”

”I understand. We can help though. When a patient has a sexually transmitted infection but is unable to tell their partner, with their permission, we can send a general text to the partner explaining that they may have been at risk of an infection and encouraging them to come for testing. This is called ‘Partner Notification’.

”I see.”

”Would you like us to do that for you?”

”I will have to think about that,” Dike replied.

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