The main focus of the national chlamydia screening programme in England is on women aged 16-24 who attend contraceptive clinics.

But research commissioned by the Health Technology Assessment programme has found that chlamydia prevalence in asymptomatic young men is the same as in women, suggesting that as many young men should be screened for chlamydia as women.

The study of over 4,500 patients identified 219 positive cases of chlamydia. Prevalence of chlamydia was found to be higher in men aged 20-24, 6.9 per cent, than in women of the same age group, 6.2 per cent.