Adherence to, and acceptability of, Listerine® mouthwash as a potential preventive intervention for pharyngeal gonorrhoea among men who have sex with men in Australia: a longitudinal study

Abstract

We investigated whether men who have sex with men (MSM) would use mouthwash daily to prevent pharyngeal gonorrhoea. Ten MSM attending the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre were asked to use a Listerine® alcohol-containing mouthwash daily for 14 days in August 2015. Mouthwash was used at least once daily for 133 of 140 person-days (95% of days; 95% confidence interval 90–98%). All 10 men were willing to use mouthwash on a daily basis, and nine men were willing to use mouthwash after oral sex. This study showed that daily use of mouthwash is an acceptable intervention to prevent pharyngeal gonorrhoea in MSM.