Contact tracing & partner management

  • Discuss partner notification up to 6 months, as sex with untreated chlamydia-infected partners can result in repeat infection.
  • Consider referring patients to Let Them Know (resources for all populations), Better to Know (resources for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people), The Drama Down Under (resources for GBMSM). These websites support patients in notifying their partners and facilitating the sending of SMS and email messages to them.
  • Offer face-to-face or telehealth appointments for the patient’s partner(s) to perform STI testing. Treatment for chlamydia is not routinely offered to asymptomatic individuals reporting contact with chlamydia because a proportion will be negative for chlamydia. However, treatment can be offered if the patient prefers, has symptoms, or is unlikely to return for the test result or treatment.

Patient Delivery Partner Therapy (PDPT)

  • Patient delivery partner therapy (PDPT) with azithromycin 1g has been shown to be a safe and effective method of treating sexual partners of people with chlamydia infection. Health authority guidance for PDPT varies from state to state, and healthcare providers should check with their relevant health department regarding guidance.
  •  A single one gram (1g) dose orally of azithromycin is used for PDPT.
  • PDPT in Victoria can be considered for:
    • Heterosexual patients with partners who are unable or unlikely to attend a clinic, or
    • Heterosexual patients with repeat infections whose partner/s have not been treated.
  • PDPT is not recommended for:
    • Patients with multiple STIs,
    • Patients whose partners who are pregnant (azithromycin is safe in pregnancy, pregnant person should test for other STIs),
    • Patients who may be at risk of partner violence,
    • Patients or partners who have heightened risk of HIV or other STIs (for example, GBMSM), and
    • Partners who have genital symptoms, such as PID or epididymitis.
  • Individuals should abstain from sex with their partners following commencement of treatment for seven days.

PDPT Guidance 

Health authorities in Victoria, New South Wales and the Northern Territory have provided guidance for PDPT. 

As of 16 March 2026, there is no health authority guidance for PDPT in other Australian jurisdictions. However, a review of the PDPT policy environment found that PDPT is potentially allowable under relevant prescribing regulations in Western Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory, and South Australia (noting that PDPT is not recommended in South Australia due to concerns about azithromycin-resistant gonorrhoea). Please check the health authority guidance in your own jurisdiction.

How to do PDPT?

Detailed information about offering and providing PDPT are provided in our recent Australian Journal of General Practice article available here. 
If the patient accepts the offer of PDPT for their partner/s the clinician will need to:

  • Record in their patient’s medical record that PDPT was offered and accepted along with the partner’s details
  • Prescribe Azithromycin 1g orally for the index patients partner/s.
  • Provide information about PDPT for their patient and the patients partner/s
  • Advise their patient to abstain from sex for seven days after taking the antibiotics.

Generating a PDPT prescription

If the partner is an existing patient of your clinic, the PDPT prescription can be generated from and documented in the partner's medical record. 
If the partner is NOT an existing patient of your clinic the PDPT prescription can be:

  • Handwritten on a prescription pad or prescription paper
  • Populated from a PDPT prescription template (available for Victoria ). Prescriptions generated in this manner are private, and patients will need to pay the full cost for the medication (approximately $8-11 for azithromycin at a discount chemist).  
     

Disclaimer

We recognise that gender identity is fluid. In our treatment guidelines, the words and language we use to describe genitals and gender are based on the sex assigned at birth.

The content of these treatment guidelines is for information purposes only. The treatment guidelines are generic in character and should be applied to individuals only as deemed appropriate by the treating practitioner on a case by case basis. Alfred Health, through MSHC, does not accept liability to any person for the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) which is provided through these treatment guidelines. 

The information contained within these treatment guidelines is provided on the basis that all persons accessing the treatment guidelines undertake responsibility for assessing the relevance and accuracy of the content and its suitability for a particular patient. Responsible use of these guidelines requires that the prescriber is familiar with contraindications and precautions relevant to the various pharmaceutical agents recommended herein.