Chlamydia test for the home launched today.

The new personal home health product solves any embarrassing trips to the doctors and gives a 98% accurate and clear result in under 10 minutes. The packaging has also been designed to appeal to the 16 - 24 year old market.

Chlamydia is now the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the UK. It has few recognisable symptoms and left untreated can cause infertility and ectopic pregnancies.

The government has invested £80 million in a national screening programme of young people but it is failing to cope. Young people are put off by having to make an appointment and sometimes wait up to 6 weeks.

Women under 30 and sexually active have a 1 in 10 chance of contracting Chlamydia.

Over the past few years, more publicity has been given to the infection and its consequences, but while other Western European countries are seeing Chlamydia cases decrease, the UK’s is rising.

Research by the Health Protection Agency found that in the UK, Chlamydia cases have risen by 8% (95,879 to 103,932), between 2003 and 2004, a rise of 6% in females and 12% in males.

Chlamydia is most prevalent among teenagers. Nearly 75% of all new cases occur in women under the age of 25. By age 30, 50% of sexually active women have been exposed to the infection.

Michelle Hart, Preventx UK operational director said: There are a lot of reasons why the UK’s Chlamydia rate is high and continuing to grow. Despite government campaigns, young people are still having unprotected sex, and statistics show that 75% of infected women and 50% of infected men do not experience symptoms, so it continues to spread. Another reason is some people are too embarrassed to get checked out. It’s our intention to provide a discrete service that will stop the spread of the infection and at the very least, ease worried minds.

She added: Usually, when testing for Chlamydia, a person would have to complete the test and then send it off to a laboratory to receive their results. With our testing, it’s discreet, simple but most importantly efficient.

The public health minister, Melanie Johnson, said: "It's vital that we make it easier for young men and women to get tested for Chlamydia.”

The Preventx home kits are easily used by a swab process and if the subject has the infection, it will cause the swab to turn purple.

CHLAMYDIA: THE FACTS - One in nine young people has tested positive for Chlamydia under the Government's national screening programme - In 2004, 75 per cent of Chlamydia diagnoses in women were in the under 25 age group, according to the Health Protection Agency - As many as one in 10 sexually active young women could carry the infection, according to sexual health charity Brook - Cases of Chlamydia have now increased by 222 per cent between the years of 1995 and 2004, according to sexual health charity Brook.

Notes for product samples or high res images please call Michelle on: 01670 821 352