Clinical Practice Alert: Syphilis Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment
Rates of syphilis have been rising in the US, including in California, which has resulted in a corresponding rise in the rates of congenital syphilis (CS). Fifteen percent of women of childbearing age diagnosed with syphilis are pregnant.
These trends mirror a sharp increase in all stages of syphilis among females, which increased more than 500 percent during the same period. Download the PDF to learn more.
This Clinical Practice Alert includes management of primary, secondary, and latent syphilis. It does not include screening and management of syphilis in people who are pregnant or the diagnosis and treatment of tertiary syphilis.
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Training STI Clinical Update Webinar – Neurosyphilis
STI Clinical Update Webinar – Neurosyphilis
Thursday, July 21, 2022, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM (PDT)
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) continues to see dramatic statewide increases in syphilis. Neurosyphilis, a syphilitic infection of the nervous system, poses a complex diagnostic and management challenge for providers caring for patients with syphilis. This webinar features Drs. Kathleen Jacobson, Chief of the CDPH Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control Branch and Sue Tuddenham, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who will discuss the epidemiology, diagnosis and management of neurosyphilis.
Learning Objectives:
Review California and national epidemiology of neurosyphilis
Describe the pathophysiology of neurosyphilis
Delineate clinical diagnosis and management of patients with neurosyphilis
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March 5, 2026
12:00PM-1:30PM (PST)
1.50 CME units at no cost
Shared decision making is often recommended as a person-centered way to engage with patients as they make decisions about their health. But what is the best way to have these conversations? In this follow-up session to our prior CAPTC webinar on shared decision making, we will be taking a deeper dive into this topic, focusing on specific scenarios where a shared decision-making approach may help address clinical grey areas in sexual health.
January 2026. Developed in collaboration with Kristin Harter, PharmD at the University of California, San Francisco, this instructional video provides step-by-step guidance for adding lidocaine to Bicillin® L-A for the…
January 20, 2026 10:30 am-12:00 pm (PST) This STI Clinical Update webinar will provide a comprehensive review of hepatitis C (HCV) in 2026, focusing on clinical cases and test-to-treat models…
December 18, 2025 1:30 pm – 2:50 pm (PST) 1.25 CME units at no cost Registration closes on December 17, 2025 at 3:00p.m. (PST) This seminar will discuss the epidemiological…
April 28, 2025, 12:00PM-1:15PM (PDT) CME not offered for viewing the webinar recording. This presentation reviews four separate cases of congenital syphilis (CS). Each case illustrates one of the four…
December 3, 2024 11:30AM-1:00PM (PST) 1.5 CME units at no cost. Dr. Claudia Borzutzky, an adolescent medicine specialist, will present an overview of confidential care for teens and supporting adolescent…
November 20, 2024 12:00PM-1:15PM (PST) 1.25 CME units at no cost. Drs. Kathleen Jacobson and Wyatt Hanft will provide a 1-hour virtual training focused on syphilis clinical presentation, screening/testing, diagnosis,…
November 12, 2024 12:30PM-2:00PM (PST) 1.5 CME units at no cost Presenter: Jenell Stewart, DO, MPH Guide evidence-based shared decision-making conversations with individual patients who were assigned female sex at…
The goal of this training is to prepare staff of local health departments to perform effective disease intervention (DI) interviews for mpox. This training aims to build on disease intervention…
Friday, October 4, 2024, at 10 am PDT In honor of DIS Recognition Day 2024, the CAPTC is celebrating the essential life-saving work of disease intervention professionals!
Special Guest: Stefan Madzar, PrEP & HIV Benefits Coordinator & Linkage Navigator at Magnet (San Francisco AIDS Foundation). Stefan will present an update on Magnet’s injectable PrEP program, including challenges,…
Presented by Drs. Kelly Johnson and Kurtis Mohr Learning Objectives Describe the varied clinical manifestations of primary and secondary syphilis in adults and adolescents Appropriately stage and treat syphilis in…
The goal of this training is to prepare staff of local health departments to perform effective disease intervention (DI) interviews for mpox. This training aims to build on disease intervention…
May 11, 2022
Over the last year, the Family PACT Program has added several new benefits. These include three new contraceptive methods, a diagnostic test for Mycoplasma genitalium, and modifications in STI treatments based on the 2021 CDC STI Treatment Guidelines. In this webinar, a description of the new benefits will be provided and the Family PACT policies that relate to their utilization will be discussed. There will be ample time to ask questions regarding these and other Family PACT benefits.
Learning Objectives:
Describe and explain the three new contraceptive methods and explain how to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each with Family PACT clients
List three circumstances when the use of the diagnostic test for Mycoplasma genitalium is clinically indicated
Describe four modifications in STI treatments based on the 2021 CDC STI Treatment Guidelines
Speakers:
Michael Policar, MD, MPH Professor Emeritus, UCSF Senior Medical Advisor, CAPTC and California OFP Clinical Fellow, NFPRHA
This webinar will focus on understanding the complex situation with herpes diagnostics—who to test, when to test, how to interpret tests, and how to obtain better tests. We will also discuss developments in new treatments and prevention methods and briefly touch on herpes counseling.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will be able to discuss the limitations of currently available serologic diagnostic testing and how to optimize testing using a patient-centered approach.
Participants will understand the current landscape of new and current HSV therapeutics.
Participants will be able to state five key messages that should be included in counseling patients with a new or existing diagnosis of genital herpes.
Opt-Out ED Screening for HIV, HCV, and Syphilis—Dear Colleague Letter from CDPH
March 28, 2022: Emergency departments (EDs) are uniquely positioned to identify people with syphilis, HIV, and hepatitis C who otherwise might remain undiagnosed. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recommends that EDs consider implementing routine opt-out testing for syphilis, HIV, and hepatitis C.
Identification and immediate treatment through the ED may have the added benefit of furthering health equity for those disproportionately affected by these infections
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Training STI Expert Hour Webinar: Addressing Systemic Racism in Sexual Health Settings
STI Expert Hour Webinar: Addressing Systemic Racism in Sexual Health Settings
February 10, 2022
Presented by Leo Moore, MD, MSHPM
Social determinants of health grounded in racism may contribute to adverse sexual and reproductive health outcomes. This webinar will discuss some of the systemic and individual-level influences on the sexual health care experience that can result in medical mistrust. We will also discuss opportunities and provide evidence-based recommendations to promote health equity in sexual health care for patients from communities of color.
Learning objectives
Describe two social determinants of health that may be affected by systemic racism.
Discuss at least one intervention that can be implemented to improve health equity in sexual health care settings.
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Training STI Clinical Update Webinar: Congenital Syphilis Update for California Emergency Department Clinicians
STI Clinical Update Webinar: Congenital Syphilis Update for California Emergency Department Clinicians
December 14, 2021 Presented by Drs. Rosalyn Plotzker and Kristopher Lyon
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) continues to see dramatic statewide increases in congenital syphilis (CS), a severe yet preventable condition when syphilis is passed from mother to fetus. In California, many infants with CS are born to parents who received care in an emergency department (ED) during pregnancy, suggesting syphilis screening in EDs may offer an important opportunity to detect syphilis in pregnancy and prevent CS.
This webinar features Dr. Rosalyn Plotzker, CDPH public health medical officer and co-author of the CDPH Expanded Syphilis Screening Recommendations for the Prevention of Congenital Syphilis. She will provide a clinical overview of CS prevention and discuss the recommendation to confirm syphilis status for pregnant patients in the ED. In addition, Dr. Kristopher Lyon, Public Health Officer and EMS medical director in Kern County, California and emergency department associate medical director, will present on syphilis screening in EDs from an on-the-ground perspective.
Discuss the pathophysiology and management of syphilis, including among pregnant patients
Explain and apply the CDPH recommendation to confirm syphilis status among pregnant patients receiving care in emergency departments
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