Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29986091›Full record

ArticleClinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America2019

Performance of Treponemal Tests for the Diagnosis of Syphilis.

Ina U Park, Yetunde F Fakile, Joan M Chow, Kathleen J Gustafson, Heather Jost, Jeffrey M Schapiro, Susan Novak-Weekley, Anthony Tran, Jim H Nomura, Victor Chen and 4 more

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
51citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
5.9field-weighted citation impact, top 3% 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

51 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 116 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Sensitivity and Specificity of Treponemal-specific Tests for the Diagnosis of Syphilis.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2020
    Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Sexually transmitted infections in Brazilian adolescent offenders in correctional facilities.Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2026
    Article
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  9. Article
  10. Review
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  12. Article
  13. Diagnostic performance ofSexually transmitted infections · 2025
    Article
  14. Article
  15. B-Cell Epitope Mapping of theDiagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
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  19. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Ina U ParkSexually Transmitted Disease Control Branch, Division of Communicable Disease Control, California Department of Public Health, Richmond.
Yetunde F FakileDivision of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
Joan M ChowSexually Transmitted Disease Control Branch, Division of Communicable Disease Control, California Department of Public Health, Richmond.
Kathleen J GustafsonSexually Transmitted Disease Control Branch, Division of Communicable Disease Control, California Department of Public Health, Richmond.
Heather JostDivision of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
Jeffrey M SchapiroKaiser Permanente Northern California Regional Laboratory, Berkeley.
Susan Novak-WeekleySouthern California Permanente Medical Group Regional Reference Laboratory, North Hollywood.
Anthony TranSan Francisco Department of Public Health, California.
Jim H NomuraSouthern California Permanente Medical Group, California.
Victor ChenSouthern California Permanente Medical Group, California.
Manie BeheshtiSouthern California Permanente Medical Group, California.
Townson TsaiSouthern California Permanente Medical Group, California.
Karen HooverDivision of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
Gail BolanDivision of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · USCalifornia Department of Public Health · USKaiser Permanente · USSan Francisco Department of Public Health · US

Funding

IMPROVING STD PRGRMS THRU ASSESSMENT, ASSURANCE & POLICY DEVH25PS004317 · PS · CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH · PI BAUER, HEIDI M · 2014 to 2016
$13.2M
Intramural CDC HHS CC999999NCHHSTP CDC HHS H25 PS004317
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTreponemal immunoassays are increasingly used for syphilis screening with the reverse sequence algorithm. There are few data describing performance of treponemal immunoassays compared to traditional treponemal tests in patients with and without syphilis.

methodsWe calculated sensitivity and specificity of 7 treponemal assays: (1) ADVIA Centaur (chemiluminescence immunoassay [CIA]); (2) Bioplex 2200 (microbead immunoassay); (3) fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption test (FTA-ABS); (4) INNO-LIA (line immunoassay); (5) LIAISON CIA; (6) Treponema pallidum particle agglutination assay (TPPA); and (7) Trep-Sure (enzyme immunoassay [EIA]), using a reference standard combining clinical diagnosis and serology results. Sera were collected between May 2012-January 2013. Cases were characterized as: (1) current clinical diagnosis of syphilis: primary, secondary, early latent, late latent; (2) prior treated syphilis only; (3) no evidence of current syphilis, no prior history of syphilis, and at least 4 of 7 treponemal tests negative.

resultsAmong 959 participants, 262 had current syphilis, 294 had prior syphilis, and 403 did not have syphilis. FTA-ABS was less sensitive for primary syphilis (78.2%) than the immunoassays or TPPA (94.5%-96.4%) (all P ≤ .01). All immunoassays were 100% sensitive for secondary syphilis, 95.2%-100% sensitive for early latent disease, and 86.8%-98.5% sensitive in late latent disease. TPPA had 100% specificity.

conclusionsTreponemal immunoassays demonstrated excellent sensitivity for secondary, early latent, and seropositive primary syphilis. Sensitivity of FTA-ABS in primary syphilis was poor. Given its high specificity and superior sensitivity, TPPA is preferred to adjudicate discordant results with the reverse sequence algorithm over the FTA-ABS.

Indexed as

ImmunoassaySyphilis SerodiagnosisTreponema pallidumAdultAlgorithmsCoinfectionFemaleHumansMaleMass ScreeningMiddle AgedReproducibility of ResultsSensitivity and SpecificitySyphilisdiagnostic performanceimmunoassaysyphilistreponemal

Identifiers

PMID29986091
PMCPMC6326891
OpenAlexW2876703464

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
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.