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VIDEO: Addressing the syndemic of STIs and HIV
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SEATTLE — In this video, Infectious Disease News Editorial Board member Jeanne M. Marrazzo, MD, MPH, FACP, FIDSA, director of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, recaps a talk she gave at CROI on the syndemic of STIs and HIV infection.
Marrazzo noted “the incredible increase in incidence” of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia, and focused on three main topics:
- a rise in uncommon manifestations of syphilis, such as ocular syphilis;
- the global threat of drug-resistant gonorrhea — “an assault on the final frontier of gonorrhea treatment,” Marrazzo said;
- and an epidemic of poorly diagnosed, poorly treated and poorly controlled bacterial STDs in young women and men in low-resource settings with high rates of HIV.
“I really believe that if we’re going to get to zero with the HIV epidemic, we have to address the sexual health concerns and the STI epidemic in people with or at risk for HIV,” Marrazzo said.
Disclosure: Marrazzo reports receiving grant funding to her institution from Cepheid and serving on panels for BioFire Diagnostics and Gilead Sciences.