title: Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of individuals with very high rapid plasma reagin.
abstract: The objective of the study was to identify clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with infectious syphilis who presented with a high rapid plasma reagin (RPR) titre (≥1: 512) during the year of 2009 at the Miami Dade County Health Department (MDCHD) STD clinic. Potential cases were identified by a search in the electronic database. Among 519 individuals identified with reactive RPR, 190 individuals met criteria for infectious syphilis and 32 of them had at least one RPR titre of ≥1: 512. We found that the majority of individuals with high RPR were men who have sex with men (82%), from ethnic minorities (91%), and HIV infected (75%) but only 3 of them were on antiretroviral therapy. Overall, 50% of these patients with very high RPR titres were symptomatic, and the most common symptom was skin rash (93%).
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA jcastro2@med.miami.edu.
authors.forename: Jose G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Maria L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Alcaide
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rosa-Cunha
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D011935:Reagins / Q000097:blood*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013587:Syphilis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D013588:Syphilis Serodiagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D014210:Treponema pallidum / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D011935:Reagins
keywords: AIDS; HIV; MSM; Syphilis; Treponema pallidum; high RPR; rapid plasma reagin; sexually transmitted infection