Study Shows Hospitals Might Not Be Following CDC Guidance On STI Screening

Healio (11/5, Feller) reports, “Less than 3% of patients tested for a bacterial STI in nearly a dozen EDs were also tested for HIV, demonstrating widespread nonadherence to a CDC recommendation, according to a study presented at IDWeek.” Braden Sciarra, MD, “an infectious diseases clinical fellow at the University of Colorado School of Medicine,” is quoted saying, “Our concern was that people are coming in to these venues and getting screened based on their chief complaint but not getting a comprehensive STI screen, including an HIV test.” Sciarra said, “We looked at patients that received a gonorrhea, chlamydia or syphilis test in the ED setting and, in that at-risk group, [asked if they were] also being screened for HIV. What we found, unfortunately, was we’re doing a really poor job of that.”