title: Responding to a community outbreak of syphilis by targeting sex partner meeting location: an example of a risk-space intervention.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Effective syphilis control and elimination require community effort and innovative case-finding techniques, especially to identify infected persons from core transmission groups.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To summarize the implementation and outcomes of a community-oriented response to a localized outbreak of syphilis directed at sex partner meeting places.
  
  
  METHODS
  Syphilis surveillance and rapid response data from a 7-month period were analyzed for risk behaviors, sex partner meeting locations, field investigation outcomes, and social and sexual network connections.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four (6%) of the sixty-nine persons tested were confirmed syphilis reactors, of whom three were new cases. A sexual and needle-sharing network of 15 persons was identified that included two of the new syphilis cases. These two had not been found through standard field investigation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Targeting interventions to sex partner meeting places may effectively complement traditional syphilis control tools and find previously unidentified syphilis cases in high-morbidity areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. jmichaud@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: Joshua M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Michaud
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ellen
authors.forename: Sheridan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rompalo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016358:Contact Tracing / Q000379:methods*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008396:Maryland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008499:Medical Records; D016485:Needle Sharing; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012747:Sexual Partners; D013587:Syphilis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*