The Tenacious Treponema: A Retrospective Examination of Syphilis Treatment Disparities in Washington, DC.

Background: Since 2000, there have been rising rates of syphilis infections nationally with higher incidence among minorities and persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (PLWH). The purpose of this study was to determine syphilis treatment adequacy and factors associated with treatment delay.

Methods: This was a retrospective academic-public health collaboration with the District of Columbia Department of Public Health reviewing surveillance data of all primary, secondary, and early latent syphilis cases diagnosed between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2019.

Implementation of an Educational Intervention to Improve HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Services for Women in an Urban Sexual Health Clinic.

To test the hypothesis that implementation of a multicomponent, educational HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) intervention to promote universal PrEP services for cisgender women (subsequently "women") in sexual and reproductive health centers would improve the proportion of women screened, offered, and prescribed PrEP, we implemented a multicomponent, educational intervention in a Washington D.C. Department of Health-sponsored sexual health clinic.

Pressure Injuries: Prevention, Evaluation, and Management.

Pressure injuries are localized damage to skin or soft tissue. They commonly occur over bony prominences and often present as an intact or open wound. Pressure injuries are common and costly, and they significantly impact patient quality of life.

Intention to Initiate HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Among Cisgender Women in a High HIV Prevalence U.S. City.

Objective: Our objective was to identify the individual, interpersonal, community, health-system, and structural factors that influence HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) initiation among cisgender women seeking sexual and reproductive health care in a high HIV prevalence community to inform future clinic-based PrEP interventions.

Methods: We collected anonymous, tablet-based questionnaires from a convenience sample of cisgender women in family planning and sexual health clinics in the District of Columbia. The survey used the lens of the socio-ecological model to measure individual, interpersonal, community, institutional, and structural factors surrounding intention to initiate PrEP.

Lessons learned from U.S. rapid antiretroviral therapy initiation programs.

Background: Rapid antiretroviral therapy initiation (R-ART) for treatment of HIV has been recommended since 2017, however it has not been adopted widely across the US.

Purpose: The study purpose was to understand facilitators and barriers to R-ART implementation in the U.S.

A Pilot of Mail-Out HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing in Washington, District of Columbia During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Introduction: In 2019, the District of Columbia recorded a 20-year low rate in new HIV infections but also had near-record numbers of gonorrhea and chlamydia infections. District of Columbia Department of Health has supported numerous forms of community-based in-person screening but not direct at-home testing.

Methods: In summer 2020, the District of Columbia Department of Health launched GetCheckedDC.

Primary Care for Persons Who Inject Drugs.

More than 750,000 persons in the United States inject opioids, methamphetamine, cocaine, or ketamine, and that number is increasing because of the current opioid epidemic. Persons who inject drugs (PWID) are at higher risk of infectious and noninfectious skin, pulmonary, cardiac, neurologic, and other causes of morbidity and mortality. Nonjudgmental inquiries about current drug use can uncover information about readiness for addiction treatment and identify modifiable risk factors for complications of injection drug use.

Opioid Overdose Deaths in the City and County of San Francisco: Prevalence, Distribution, and Disparities.

Drug overdose is now the leading cause of unintentional death nationwide, driven by increased prescription opioid overdoses. To better understand urban opioid overdose deaths, this paper examines geographic, demographic, and clinical differences between heroin-related decedents and prescription opioid decedents in San Francisco from 2010 to 2012. During this time period, 331 individuals died from accidental overdose caused by opioids (310 involving prescription opioids and 31 involving heroin).

Assessing the cost-effectiveness of treating chronic hepatitis C virus in people who inject drugs in Australia.

Background And Aim: To assess the cost-effectiveness of hepatitis C virus treatment with pegylated interferon alfa-2a and ribavirin in current and former people who inject drugs (PWID).

Methods: A decision analytic model simulated the lifetime costs and outcomes of four treatment options: early treatment with mild fibrosis, standard treatment with moderate fibrosis, late treatment with compensated cirrhosis, and no treatment. Treatment modalities were simulated across current, former, and never-injector cohorts of 1000 hypothetical patients with chronic hepatitis C virus.