Agenda - 11-03-1999 - 9c - Laserfiche WebLink

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14 !~ factor is likewise common in the entire five-county area, clustering can be expected to be more eliectil=e than strict pa~-txter elicitatioIl and notification. __ c) Enhanced surveillance activities--Surveillance for syphilis will be enhanced in the five-county tazget azea through screening in jails and non-health department HN counseling and testing sites, and through implementation of active surveillance of jails, emergency rooms, and providers serving high-risk populations. The outreach worker will establish a relationship with the county jails. Several of the local jails currently provide limited syphilis screening, but none provide screening to all individuals as they enter the jail. Routine syphilis testing should be provided in each county jail. A mechanism will be established to facilitate testing of the blood within 24 hours. The outreach worker will assure that at least weekly educational sessions aze presented to inmates in each jail ~on syphilis, HIV and other STDs. Jail health staff will be trained to recognize symptoms of syphilis and immediately refer anyone with suspicious symptoms to testing (if not already done) and treatment. The Section and local health departments cuaently work with at least seven community-based organizations in these five counties: Step One, Community Connection, CAARE, Inc., Mount Sinai AIDS Education Project, Triad Health Project, Sickle Cell Disease Association of the Piedmont, and Alamance Cares. Many of these community based organizations provide HIV counseling and testing as part of their prevention services. Several months ago the Section began work with all community-based organizations in the state who were providing HIV counseling and testing ser~~ices to also include syphilis testing services. This will become a prerequisite for Section-funded community-based organizations providing HIV counseling and testing services on January 1,1999. Staff are currently working with community-based organizations in the f ve- county azea to assure that syphilis testing is .strongly encouraged for everyone tested for HIV. These community-based organizations also include syphilis prevention messages in all of their HN prevention efforts. Through this pmject the community and health department relationships will be further enhanced and STD prevention will become a more prominent part of all HN prevention messages. The local health department staff DIS, and outreach workers will work together to ensure that all cases aze promptly reported, int,-rviewed and counseled. These activities will include active surveillance of emergency rooms, county jails and providers serving communities at high risk. d} Outbreak response team North Carolina developed an outbreak response team, R.I.O.T., in 1993. Due to R.I.O.T.'s success, the state will .continue to use the R.I.O.T. model for rapid aisease intervention and outreach in outbreak situations. As stated earlier in this report, the outreach tazQe*s and identifies individuals at high risk for infection, the DIS are able to concentrate efforts to identify and bring to treatment those at highest risk for syphilis and those who are infected, and this effort prepares the health department and community based organizations for the type of cooperation and collaboration needed to interrupt syphilis transmission. The plan will be revised to .include the syphilis elimination project coordinator as the RI.O.T. team leader, and the five syphilis outreach workers as team members. With these _ ~ changes, implementation of a RI.O.T. effort should require a very limited amount of time and the t..am should be exceedingly mobile. 9