Syphilis Among U.S.-Bound Refugees, 2015 – 2018

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Immigr Minor Health
• Personal Author:
  Fox, Shannon ; Shah, Priti ; Hollberg, Michelle Russell ; Lee, Deborah ; Posey, Drew L.
• Description:
  We assessed syphilis screening data from overseas medical examinations among U.S.-bound refugees to characterize seropositive syphilis cases and treatment from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2018. During this time period, all refugees 15 years and older were required to undergo syphilis screening prior to resettlement to the United States. Of the 160,381 refugee arrivals who had a syphilis screening performed, 697 (434 per 100,000) were diagnosed with any stage (infectious or non-infectious) of syphilis. Among the 697 persons with seropositive syphilis, a majority (63%) were from the Africa region and were male (58%), and 53 (7.6%) were diagnosed with an infectious stage of syphilis. All infectious cases were treated prior to resettlement. This information suggests a comparable risk of infection among U.S.-bound refugees compared to a report of syphilis among U.S.-bound refugees from 2009 to 2013, indicating low rates in this population for at least a decade.
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Africa Aged Female Humans Male Mass Screening Middle Aged Refugees Syphilis United States Young Adult

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• Keywords:
  Screening Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• Source:
  J Immigr Minor Health. 26(6):1062-1069
• Pubmed ID:
  38847992
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11606733
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  26
• Issue:
  6
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3a697914b737f03cf790fa13d1886de4a98f4dd0453b9a4b3ce8a6e9c5147c6caaec661faf05b7c3a1f114ef854d185e607f721800165ab7758408ccf7ba3827
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/170798/cdc_170798_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 115.09 KB ]