Loading...
Women with diagnoses of gonorrhea or syphilis are at high risk for HIV acquisition and therefore should be tested for HIV; if negative, preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can be offered (NEJM JW Womens Health Feb 2018; multiple citations). Apparently, however, this is not happening in practice.
Researchers used U.S. databases to identify nonpregnant, non-HIV–positive teens and women (age range, 15–64) with diagnoses of gonorrhea or syphilis in 2017. Among >6 million commercially insured women, 3709 had gonorrhea and 1696 had syphilis; for the >2 million Medicaid-insured patients, 6172 had gonorrhea and 1497 had syphilis. Women with Medicaid were significantly more likely to receive HIV testing (11.6% with gonorrhea and 9.8% with syphilis) than t…