COVID-19 Case Investigation and Contact Tracing in the US, 2020.

Importance: Contact tracing is a multistep process to limit SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Gaps in the process result in missed opportunities to prevent COVID-19.

Objective: To quantify proportions of cases and their contacts reached by public health authorities and the amount of time needed to reach them and to compare the risk of a positive COVID-19 test result between contacts and the general public during 4-week assessment periods.

Extragenital Screening in Men Who Have Sex With Men Diagnoses More Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Cases Than Urine Testing Alone.

Data were evaluated to determine the benefit of extragenital screening among men who have sex with men in detecting chlamydia/gonorrhea infections. More than seventy percent of chlamydia infections and >80% of gonorrhea infections would have been missed with urine testing alone in the course of a year. Extragenital testing is critical for identifying sexually transmitted diseases among men who have sex with men.

Patient-Reported Expedited Partner Therapy for Gonorrhea in the United States: Findings of the STD Surveillance Network 2010-2012.

Background: Expedited partner therapy (EPT) has been shown to prevent reinfection in persons with gonorrhea and to plausibly reduce incidence. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends EPT as an option for treating sex partners of heterosexual patients. Few studies that examine how the reported use of this valuable intervention differs by patient and provider characteristics and by geography across multiple jurisdictions in the United States are currently available.

Neighborhoods at risk: estimating risk of higher Neisseria gonorrhoeae incidence among women at the census tract level.

Background: The association between area-based social factors and sexually transmitted diseases has been demonstrated in numerous studies. Such associations have not previously been explored for their potential to quantify likelihood of higher transmission of gonorrhea in small geographic areas.

Methods: Aggregate census tract-level sociodemographic factors in 4 domains (demographics, educational attainment, household income, and housing characteristics) were merged with female gonorrhea incidence data from 113 counties in 10 US states.

Partner meeting place is significantly associated with gonorrhea and chlamydia in adolescents participating in a large high school sexually transmitted disease screening program.

Background: From 2003 to 2012, the Philadelphia High School STD Screening Program screened 126,053 students, identifying 8089 Chlamydia trachomatis (CT)/Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) infections. We examined sociodemographic and behavioral factors associated with CT/GC diagnoses among a sample of this high-risk population.

Methods: Standardized interviews were given to infected students receiving in-school CT/GC treatment (2009-2012) and to uninfected students calling for results (2011-2012).

Adolescent sexually transmitted infections and risk for subsequent HIV.

Objectives: We estimated the risk of HIV associated with sexually transmitted infection (STI) history during adolescence.

Methods: We retrospectively studied a cohort of adolescents (n = 75 273, born in 1985-1993) who participated in the Philadelphia High School STD Screening Program between 2003 and 2010. We matched the cohort to STI and HIV surveillance data sets and death certificates and performed Poisson regression to estimate the association between adolescent STI exposures and subsequent HIV diagnosis.

Association between enhanced screening for Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae and reductions in sequelae among women.

Purpose: Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) are typically asymptomatic, but, if untreated, can lead to sequelae including pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and ectopic pregnancy. The objective was to describe trends of these sequelae in Philadelphia after implementing citywide screening in a high-morbidity population (>6% positivity).

Methods: In this ecologic study, which used data from 1996 to 2007, multivariable linear regression analysis was used to assess the association between the number of annual CT/GC screening tests by gender and the number of women aged 14-30 years hospitalized for PID or ectopic pregnancy.

Needle in a haystack: the yield of syphilis outreach screening at 5 US sites-2000 to 2007.

Background: Screening for syphilis has been performed for decades, but it is unclear if the practice yields many cases at acceptable cost, and if so, at which venues. We attempted a retrospective study to determine the costs, yield, and feasibility of analyzing health department-funded syphilis outreach screening in 5 diverse US sites with significant disease burdens.

Methods: Data (venue, costs, number of tests, reactive tests, new diagnoses) from 2000 to 2007 were collected for screening efforts funded by public health departments from Philadelphia; New York City; Washington, District of Columbia; Maricopa County, Arizona (Phoenix); and the state of Florida.

Practical and analytical aspects of using friend controls in case-control studies: experience from a case-control study of childhood cancer.

We report empirical data on the use of friend controls, specifically response rates, case-control concordance and analytical approaches. The data derive from a North American multi-institutional study of childhood cancer that was conducted in 2002-07 and that focused on paternal exposures. Case parents nominated friends as potential controls; up to three controls participated per case.

Screening male prisoners for Chlamydia trachomatis: impact on test positivity among women from their neighborhoods who were tested in family planning clinics.

Background: Chlamydia trachomatis screening test positivity among women in the United States has remained high, leading researchers to suggest that programs should also screen men. Men have been screened in Philadelphia prisons since 2002. Philadelphia prisons are similar to jails in other jurisdictions; in 2003 the median duration of incarceration was 17 days.

Determining risk markers for gonorrhea and chlamydial infection and reinfection among adolescents in public high schools.

Background: In response to high adolescent rates of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC), Philadelphia began screening in all public high schools in 2003.

Methods: Data from 14,862 students who tested more than once in the Philadelphia High School STD Screening Program (PHSSSP) during the 2002-2006 school years were analyzed for factors associated with CT and GC infection. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models and logistic regression models were constructed to identify characteristics associated with measured STD rates.