Open AccessUsing an Email Alert to Improve Identification of Pregnancy Status for Women With Syphilis—Florida, 2017–2018
Author(s) -
James Matthias,
Gayle Keller,
Daniel R. George,
Craig Wilson,
Thomas A. Peterman
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
sexually transmitted diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.507
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1537-4521
pISSN - 0148-5717
DOI - 10.1097/olq.0000000000000934
Subject(s) - medicine , syphilis , pregnancy , congenital syphilis , obstetrics , sexually transmitted disease , gynecology , family medicine , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , genetics , biology
Congenital syphilis can be prevented if syphilis is treated early in pregnancy. Identifying women with syphilis who are pregnant facilitates prioritization for follow-up. In 2016, Florida reported 1062 female syphilis cases, aged 15 to 44 years, and 160 (15%) cases were missing pregnancy status. The Florida Department of Health developed a system-generated weekly email notification sent to local program staff for all female syphilis investigations with unknown pregnancy status. We describe the outcome of these efforts to reduce unknown pregnancy status among women with syphilis.