Impacts of Sexually Transmitted Disease/HIV Outreach Sites on the Effectiveness of Detecting New Infections in Baltimore City, 2015 to 2018.

Background: Effectiveness of sexually transmitted disease (STD)/HIV mobile van outreach programs has been shown to assist in identifying new cases of syphilis and HIV among high-risk populations. However, specific types of mobile outreach testing and their varying abilities to assist in STD/HIV case identification have not been thoroughly explored.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Baltimore City Health Department syphilis and HIV testing intake interviews and subsequent laboratory results for clients at any of the 6 different Baltimore City Health Department mobile outreach testing setting types between 2015 and 2018.

Comparison of swab and sponge methodologies for identification of Acinetobacter baumannii from the hospital environment.

The ideal sampling method for identification of Acinetobacter baumannii from the health care environment is unknown. In this study, we sampled 145 surfaces in the rooms of patients with known A. baumannii colonization/infection, comparing two methods: swab and sponge.