ArticleSexually transmitted diseases2021
Decreases in Reported Sexually Transmitted Infections During the Time of COVID-19 in King County, WA: Decreased Transmission or Screening?
Article in Sexually transmitted diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Longitudinal Trend in Hospital-Wide Syphilis Testing and Clinical Characteristics of Syphilis Requiring Treatment.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Sexually Transmitted Infection and Chlamydia/Gonorrhea Testing Have Not Returned to Pre-COVID Levels, 5 U.S. Jurisdictions, 2018-2022.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2025Article
- High syphilis incidence among PrEP-adherent men who have sex with men and transgender women in Peru.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2025Article
- Coinfection of syphilis and HIV: epidemiological evaluation at the Dermatology Department in Lodz, Poland.Postepy dermatologii i alergologii · 2025Article
- Sexually Transmitted Infection Cases During COVID-19: Implications for Public Health.American journal of public health · 2025Article
- COVID-19 Policies and Sexually Transmitted Infections in 22 US States, January 2020-December 2021.American journal of public health · 2025Article
- Leveraging local public health to advance antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) implementation and mitigate antimicrobial resistance (AMR): a scoping review.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2024Article
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- The Resurgence ofInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Geospatial Disparities in Youth Sexually Transmitted Infections During COVID-19.American journal of preventive medicine · 2024Article
- Spatial and trend analysis of gestational syphilis cases in Brazil from 2011 to 2020: an ecological study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Sexual Behavior and Sexual Decision-Making Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Observations from a Rapid Ethnographic Assessment in Marion County, Indiana, October-November 2021.Archives of sexual behavior · 2024Article
- Rapid resurgence of syphilis in Japan after the COVID-19 pandemic: A descriptive study.PloS one · 2024Article
- Article
- Sexually transmitted infections and associated risk factors among sexual minority women in China.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- HPV and Covid-19 Era: effects of nonpharmaceutical interventions on HPV transmission.Pathogens and global health · 2023Article
- Is the COVID-19 Pandemic Continuing to Impact Sexual and Reproductive Health Services for Adolescents? Findings From a 2021 Survey of US Physicians.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2023Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the dynamic COVID-zero strategy on HIV incidence and mortality in China.BMC public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington State's Stay Home, Stay Healthy (SHSH) order was implemented on March 24, 2020. We hypothesized that pandemic mitigation measures might reduce sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening and/or transmission.
methodsWe used King County, WA STI surveillance and sexual health clinic (SHC) data from January 1, 2019, to July 31, 2020. We calculated mean weekly case counts for gonorrhea, primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis, male urethral gonorrhea, and early latent (EL) syphilis for 3 periods in 2020: pre-SHSH (January 1-March 23), SHSH (March 24-June 5), and reopening (June 6-July 31). Primary and secondary syphilis and male urethral gonorrhea were used as proxies for sexual behavior, and EL syphilis was used as a proxy for STI screening. We compared SHC visits (2019 vs. 2020) and SHC gonorrhea treatment practices (across 2020 periods).
resultsCompared with January to July 2019, from January to July 2020, reported cases of gonorrhea, male urethral gonorrhea, P&S syphilis, and EL syphilis decreased by 9%, 5%, 16%, and 22%, respectively. Mean weekly case counts of gonorrhea, male urethral gonorrhea, and EL syphilis decreased pre-SHSH to SHSH, but all returned to pre-SHSH levels during reopening. Sexual health clinic visits during SHSH were 55% lower in 2020 than in 2019. In the SHC during SHSH, ceftriaxone treatment of gonorrhea decreased, whereas cefixime/cefpodoxime treatment and gonorrhea treatment with no testing increased.
conclusionsDecreases in reported STIs concurrent with COVID-19 SHSH may reflect a true decline in STI transmission. However, the larger decreases in asymptomatic infections indicate that much of the observed decrease was likely due to decreased screening.
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