Question

MG is a 27-year-old graduate student, recently married, who comes into the student health clinic for a routine pelvic test and Pap smear. During the course of the check-up, the gynecology resident performing the test obtains the Pap smear, but also obtains cervical cultures for gonorrhea and chlamydia. The examination concludes uneventfully. Several weeks later, MG receives a postcard indicating that the Pap smear was normal, with no evidence of dysplasia, but that the cervical culture for gonorrhea was positive. The card instructs her to come into the clinic to discuss treatment, and that "public health authorities" have been notified for contact tracing, which refers to the identification and diagnosis of sexual partners, as required by law. The young woman is terrified that her husband will be contacted.

Is contact tracing ethically justified?

Answer 1

Yes

public health, contact tracing is the process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person ("contacts") and subsequent collection of further information about these contacts. By tracing the contacts of infected individuals, testing them for infection, isolating or treating the infected and tracing their contacts in turn, public health aims to reduce infections in the population. Diseases for which contact tracing is commonly performed include tuberculosis, vaccine-preventable infections like measles, sexually transmitted infections (including HIV), blood-borne infections, ebola, some serious bacterial infections, and novel infections (e.g. SARS-CoV, H1N1, and COVID-19). The goals of contact tracing are:

To interrupt ongoing transmission and reduce the spread of an infection

To alert contacts to the possibility of infection and offer preventive services or prophylactic care

To offer diagnosis, counseling and treatment to already infected individuals

If the infection is treatable, to help prevent reinfection of the originally infected patient

To learn about the epidemiology of a disease in a particular population