Table 2. Key indicators for syphilis screening before and after POCT introduction.
Country and Population Screened | Screening Method Pre-POCT | % People Screened Pre-POCT | % People Screened Post-POCT | % Positive Post-POCT | % People Treated Post-POCT |
Amazonas region, Brazil (sexually active population) | No screening available | No screening available | 45,971/84,038 (54.5% ) | Sexually active: 745/45,971 (1.62%); pregnant womena: 64/4,695 (1.36%) | 808/808 (100%) |
Rural ANC in Guangdong province, China | TRUST (RPR) confirmed with TPPA | N/ab | 5,272/5,489 (96.0%) | 109/5,272 (1.9%) | 102/109 (93.6%) |
Maternity hospital in Lima and ANCs in Callao, Peru | RPR | 9,595/18,757 (51%) | 15,985/16,839 (95%) | 146/15,985 (1.0%) | 128/134c (97%) |
District Hospital and 51 health facilities in Geita District, Tanzania | RPR | 634/3,561 (17.8%) | 58,249/58,249 (100%) | 6,345/58,249 (10.9%) | 5,717/6,345 (90.1%) |
Kampala Hospital and rural ANCs in Uganda | RPR | 140/8,475 (1.7%) | 13,131/14,540 (90.3%) | 690/13,131 (5.3%) | 715/690 (103.6%)d |
Lusaka Hospital and rural ANCs in Mongu district, Zambia | RPR | 12,761/15,967 (79.9%) | 11,460/11,985 (95.6%) | 1,050/11,460 (9.2%) | 1,000/1,050 (95.2%) |
Pregnant women were a subset of the sexually active population.
N/a: No data available before the introduction of POCTs as testing was done by a laboratory and these services were not widely available in rural China.
Twelve POCT-positive pregnant women had a previous history of syphilis and were either RPR negative or had received treatment recently. The treating physicians did not think additional treatment was required.
ANC attenders whose accompanying partners were found to have syphilis were offered presumptive treatment even if their own result was negative. This resulted in more women being treated than had positive tests.
RPR, rapid plasma reagin test; TPPA, Treponema pallidum particle agglutination assay.