Syphilis,Chlamydia,and Gonorrhea Screening in HIV-Infected Patients in Primary Care,San Francisco,California,2003

Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends sexually transmitted disease (STD) screening among HIV-infected persons in order to reduce HIV transmission. We evaluated the results of routine screening for syphilis and for urogenital, pharyngeal, and rectal gonorrhea(GC) and chlamydia (CT) among asymptomatic HIV-infected patients at an HIV primary care clinic in San Francisco, California. We found 15 new syphilis infections of 814 tested(1.8%) and 60 new cases of CT or GC infection of 586 tested (10.2%), with 88% of GC and CT infections occurring at nonurethral sites. Our study reveals a high rate of asymptomatic STDs among HIV-infected patients in primary care and supports the CDC recommendations to screen HIV-infected patients for STDs at all relevant anatomic sites.