Abstract: Objective To understand the infection sources,care seeking behaviour and STD prevention in STD clinic patients.Methods Four hundred and seventy four patients of 3 STD clinics in Shanghai were investigated with questionaires and interviewed.Results 94.1% respondents contracted STDs via sexual contact.70.3% married females attributed their infection source to their husbands,while more than 80% males and unmarried patients were infected through casual or commercial sex partners.High risk populations were observed among salesclerks,hotel attendants,private businessmen and unemployed,who were liable to contract STD through extramarital sexual contact and had a low rate of condom use.74.5% of patients who visited the clinics after their symptoms had appeared.82.7%,62.2%,57.1% and 30.0% of patients,whose sex partners were their spouses,lovers,commercial sex workers and casual partners,respectively,promised to encourage their partners for STD check up.Although the care seeking behaviour among females was slightly more active than that among males,postponed treatment seeking behaviour,low rate of simultaneous treatment of both male and female partners and low rate of condom use were observed among total patients.Majority of patients practised unprotected sexual intercourse,4.2% used condom in commercial sexual activities,only 9.7% used condom even after having contracted the present STDs.Conclusion It is implied that counselling and health education must be strengthened in STD clinics,aiming at improving the awareness of STD prevention,insistently and correctly using condom,carefully choosing sex partners and reducing the number of sex partners,and encouraging the patients to adopt healthier life style.

Key words: STD condom, Infection sources, Care-seeking behaviour