Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25798165›Full record

ArticleThe Canadian journal of infectious diseases & medical microbiology = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses et de la microbiologie medicale

Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network laboratory guidelines for the use of serological tests (excluding point-of-care tests) for the diagnosis of syphilis in Canada.

Paul N Levett, Kevin Fonseca, Raymond Sw Tsang, Kamran Kadkhoda, Bouchra Serhir, Sandra M Radons, Muhammad Morshed

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in The Canadian journal of infectious diseases & medical microbiology = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses et de la microbiologie medicale. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
1.9field-weighted citation impact, top 14% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network (CPHLN) Diagnostic Recommendations for Neurosyphilis in Canada.Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada = Journal officiel de l'Association pour la microbiologie medicale et l'infectiologie Canada · 2024
    Article
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. An Update on the Status of Direct Testing forJournal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada = Journal officiel de l'Association pour la microbiologie medicale et l'infectiologie Canada · 2024
    Review
  5. Inconclusive Syphilis Results: A Retrospective Review of Public Health Results.The Canadian journal of infectious diseases & medical microbiology = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses et de la microbiologie medicale · 2020
    Article
  6. A Veteran Presenting With Leg Swelling, Dyspnea, and Proteinuria.Federal practitioner : for the health care professionals of the VA, DoD, and PHS · 2019
    Article
  7. Syphilis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2019
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Neurosyphilis mimicking autoimmune encephalitis in a 52-year-old man.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2017
    Article
  10. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.

Paul N LevettSaskatchewan Disease Control Laboratory, Regina, Saskatchewan;
Kevin FonsecaAlberta Provincial Laboratory for Public Health, Calgary, Alberta;
Raymond Sw TsangNational Microbiology Laboratory;
Kamran KadkhodaCadham Provincial Laboratory; ; Department of Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases and Department of Immunology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba;
Bouchra SerhirInstitut national de santé publique du Quebec-LSPQ, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec;
Sandra M RadonsCanadian Public Health Laboratory Network, Winnipeg, Manitoba;
Muhammad MorshedBC Public Health Microbiology and Reference Laboratory; ; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia.
University of Manitoba · CAHealth Canada · CAInstitut National de Santé Publique · CIPublic Health LaboratorySaskatchewan Disease Control Laboratory · CAUniversity of British Columbia · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Syphilis, caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum, is an infection recognized since antiquity. It was first reported at the end of the 15th century in Europe. Infections may be sexually transmitted as well as spread from an infected mother to her fetus or through blood transfusions. The laboratory diagnosis of syphilis infection is complex. Because this organism cannot be cultured, serology is used as the principal diagnostic method. Some of the issues related to serological diagnoses are that antibodies take time to appear after infection, and serology screening tests require several secondary confirmatory tests that can produce complex results needing interpretation by experts in the field. Traditionally, syphilis screening was performed using either rapid plasma reagin or Venereal Disease Research Laboratory tests, and confirmed by treponemal tests such as MHA-TP, TPPA or FTA-Abs. Currently, that trend is reversed, ie, most of the laboratories in Canada now screen for syphilis using treponemal enzyme immunoassays and confirm the status of infection using rapid plasma reagin or Venereal Disease Research Laboratory tests; this approach is often referred to as the reverse algorithm. This chapter reviews guidelines for specimen types and sample collection, treponemal and non-treponemal tests utilized in Canada, the current status of serological tests for syphilis in Canada, the complexity of serological diagnosis of syphilis infection and serological testing algorithms. Both traditional and reverse sequence algorithms are recommended and the algorithm used should be based on a combination of local disease epidemiology, test volumes, performance of the proposed assays and available resources.

Indexed as

Enzyme immunoassayReverse algorithmRPRSerological diagnosisSyphilisTreponema pallidum

Identifiers

PMID25798165
PMCPMC4353981
OpenAlexW2265775630

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.