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Syphilis outbreak assessment.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases 2001;28(3):131-135.
Finelli L, Levine WC, Valentine J, St. Louis ME.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Syphilis rates began to decline in 1991 and have decreased
every year since. In 1998, 6,993 cases of primary and secondary syphilis
were reported in the United States, for a national incidence of 2.6 cases
per 100,000 population. Although syphilis rates are at an historic low,
focal outbreaks still occur. On October 7, 1999, the Division of Sexually
Transmitted Disease Prevention of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, in collaboration with federal and community partners, presented
the National Plan for Elimination of Syphilis from the United States.
One of the five key strategies of the plan is rapid outbreak response.
METHODS: Methods for outbreak assessment and response were reviewed in
the literature, synthesized, and adapted for use in syphilis outbreaks.
RESULTS: Key elements of outbreak assessment and response are detection,
surveillance data review, hypothesis generation, intervention development,
and the evaluation of clinical, public health, and laboratory services.
CONCLUSIONS: Outbreak response necessitates community participation and
a coordinated interdisciplinary effort to determine social and behavioral
contributors to the outbreak and to develop targeted interventions.