Spotting Syphilis: A Dual Point-of-Care Syphilis Screening Initiative in a Low-Resource Healthcare Setting

The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston149 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this study is to determine if a strategy utilizing the Chembio HIV/syphilis rapid point-of-care (POC) test for diagnosis of HIV and syphilis in pregnant women attending prenatal clinics in Guatemala will increase screening and detection rates thereby resulting in higher rates of treatment during pregnancy and ultimately reducing congenital syphilis and HIV Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) and to provide knowledge and technical expertise on the use of Point-of-care ultrasound for all pregnant patients testing positive for syphilis during the intervention to evaluate the fetus for evidence of congenital syphilis.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

Purpose

SCREENING

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

149

Conditions

Syphilis HIV Infections

Interventions

Participants will undergo the Chembio DPP® HIV-Syphilis rapid POC test by fingerstick. The Chembio test is read by a handheld reader. If positive for syphilis, the participant ill be informed and treated at the same visit with intramuscular (IM) Benzathine penicillin G (BPG) according to clinical stage and will undergo point-of-care ultrasound for the detection of fetal markers for congenital syphilis.If positive for HIV, participant will be started on Bictegravir/Tenofovir Alafenamide (TAF)/Emtricitabine (FTC) per guidelines

Eligibility

Sex: FEMALEMin age: 14 YearsMax age: 65 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * pregnant women at any gestational age * Nonpregnant women may also be included if unsure of pregnancy status and attend clinic for pregnancy care and confirmed to be not pregnant by routine testing such as urine pregnancy tests and/or the absence of an intrauterine pregnancy by ultrasound Exclusion Criteria: * Participants not at clinical sites in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala between 09/27/2025 and 10/03/2025