Screening for Syphilis Infection: Recommendation Statement

Abstract

T his statement summarizes the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations on screening for syphilis and the supporting scientifi c evidence, and updates the 1996 recommendations contained in the Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, second edition: periodic updates. Since then, the USPSTF criteria to rate the strength of the evidence have changed. Therefore, the recommendation statement that follows has been updated and revised based on the current USPSTF methodology and rating of the strength of the evidence. 2 Explanations of the ratings and of the strength of overall evidence are given in Appendix A and in Appendix B, respectively. The complete information on which this statement is based, including evidence tables and references, is available in the brief updates 3 on this topic on the USPSTF Web site (http://www.preventiveservices.ahrq.