ArticleSexually transmitted infections2019
Dual screen and confirm rapid test does not reduce overtreatment of syphilis in pregnant women living in a non-venereal treponematoses endemic region: a field evaluation among antenatal care attendees in Burkina Faso.
Article in Sexually transmitted infections, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Improved rapid diagnostic tests to detect syphilis and yaws: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Sexually transmitted infections · 2022Pooled it
- The impact of antenatal syphilis point of care testing on pregnancy outcomes: A systematic review.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Rapid/point-of-care syphilis testing in high-income countries: insights and implementation challenges from the authors' experience in Canada.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2026Review
- Estimating the Value of Novel Tests for Active Syphilis in Zimbabwe: How Much Overtreatment Can Be Avoided?Sexually transmitted diseases · 2026Article
- The Potential for Combined Treponemal/Nontreponemal Rapid Point-of-Care Test and Treponema pallidum Polymerase Chain Reaction in the Diagnosis of Gestational and Congenital Syphilis in a Low-Resource, High-Prevalence Setting: Pilot Data From Malawi.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2026Article
- Dual Treponemal and Non-Treponemal Rapid Test for Syphilis in People Living with HIV: A Diagnostic Accuracy Study.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2026Article
- How to Use Rapid Dual Treponemal and Lipoidal Tests in Clinical Practice.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2026Article
- Update on syphilis diagnostics.Current opinion in infectious diseases · 2025Review
- Point-of-Care Diagnostics for Diagnosis of Active Syphilis Infection: Needs, Challenges and the Way Forward.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Laboratory Evaluation of the DPP Syphilis Screen & Confirm Assay.Microbiology spectrum · 2022Article
- Ulcerative skin lesions among children in Cameroon: It is not always Yaws.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Article
- Improving the coverage and accuracy of syphilis testing: The development of a novel rapid, point-of-care test for confirmatory testing of active syphilis infection and its early evaluation in China and South Africa.EClinicalMedicine · 2020Article
- Malaria and curable sexually transmitted infections in pregnant women: A two-years observational study in rural Burkina Faso.PloS one · 2020Observational
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesIn resource-limited settings, screening pregnant women for syphilis using rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) is a key tool in the prevention of congenital syphilis. However, most syphilis RDTs detect only treponemal antibodies (T-RDT), meaning antibiotics may be provided unnecessarily to previously treated pregnant women, particularly in non-venereal treponematoses endemic regions. We estimated the potential reduction in overtreatment when comparing T-RDT (SD Bioline) to a newer rapid test (Dual Path Platform (DPP) Screen and Confirm Assay, Chembio) detecting both treponemal and non-treponemal antibodies.
methodsPregnant women in Déou, Burkina Faso, screened for syphilis during antenatal care (ANC) visits were prospectively enrolled in the study after providing consent. DPP and T-RDT tests were performed on whole blood specimens. Plasma was tested in an international reference laboratory by Treponema pallidum passive particle agglutination (TPPA) and quantitative rapid plasma reagin (RPR). Presumptive active syphilis was defined as a result that was both TPPA and RPR reactive.
resultsOf the 242 pregnant women included in the study, 91 (37.6%) had presumptive active syphilis and 19.0% had RPR titres ≥8. DPP testing did not reduce the number of pregnant women who would have been overtreated compared with T-RDT (0.0% vs 2.5%; p=0.218) and had a higher proportion of underdiagnosis (48.4% vs 2.2%; p<0.001). Seven women with high RPR titres ≥8 would not have received treatment had only DPP testing been used.
conclusionIn the first evaluation comparing DPP with traditional screening methods in pregnant women, we saw no reduction in unnecessarily treated syphilis and an underestimation of those needing treatment. High seroprevalence in the population may indicate the presence of other treponemal infections in the area, and further study of DPP in a variety of Sahelian and other contexts is warranted.
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