At a glance
Jurisdictions are leaning into targeted STI prevention and treatment strategies by focusing on the needs and interests of local communities and delivering partnerships invested in meeting people where they are.
2024
In early 2024, Shawnee County, Kansas, identified a syphilis outbreak primarily among persons who use drugs and persons who are unstably housed. Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) reported a 90% increase in cases compared to the previous year. Seventy-six percent of the outbreak-related cases had prior syphilis diagnoses, signaling the need to verify whether these individuals had been appropriately treated and provided with resources to reduce the risk of future infections. To address the outbreak, KDHE requested multi-pronged technical assistance (TA) from CDC's Division of STD Prevention.
In March 2024, CDC disease intervention (DI) professionals provided on-site mentoring and coaching, observed field conditions, demonstrated best practices, and recommended improvements to local DI and case management. Together, the CDC and local and state DI professionals reviewed 88% of open syphilis cases and closed 75% of them. To enhance the effectiveness of DI efforts, CDC DI professionals recommended that KDHE revise standard operating procedures, ensure comprehensive case documentation, map DI activities to visualize gaps to inform future outreach, offer ongoing DI-related trainings and professional development, and implement a standardized system for case management. Additionally, the CDC DI professionals suggested that the local STD clinic create walk-in appointments, a comprehensive referral list, and implement a syphilis screening program in correctional facilities.
The CDC Surveillance and Data Science Branch provided remote TA focused on helping to reduce the syphilis case investigation backlog by training local DI professionals on innovative information system workflows and the prioritization of key syphilis data elements. Additionally, the CDC Clinical, Economic, and Health Services Research Branch, in collaboration with the Prevention Training Center in St. Louis, Missouri, conducted one on-site and seven virtual syphilis screening trainings for over 350 healthcare providers statewide. These collaborations were critical, and by July 2024, KDHE declared the syphilis outbreak over.