{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T01:14:07Z","timestamp":1788225247837,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"American Society for Microbiology","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,17]],"date-time":"2023-10-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1697500800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,17]],"date-time":"2023-10-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1697500800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/non-commercial-tdm-license"}],"funder":[{"name":"DHAC | National Health and Medical Research Council","award":["APP2003399"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["APP2003399"]}]},{"name":"DHAC | National Health and Medical Research Council","award":["GNT1172873"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GNT1172873"]}]},{"name":"DHAC | National Health and Medical Research Council","award":["GNT1172900"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GNT1172900"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001232","name":"Royal Australasian College of Physicians","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["Research Entry Scholarship"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Research Entry Scholarship"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001232","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"MU | Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University","award":["Research Training Program"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Research Training Program"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.asm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Microbiol Spectr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,17]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    Early detection and treatment of syphilis will reduce the infectious period and transmission. We aimed to determine whether screening men who have sex with men (MSM) taking HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for syphilis using\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Treponema pallidum<\/jats:italic>\n                    polymerase chain reaction (PCR) could detect syphilis before the appearance of syphilis antibodies in serology. MSM attending 3-monthly PrEP clinic visits in Melbourne, Australia, were screened with a PCR assay targeting the\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">pol<\/jats:italic>\n                    A gene of\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">T. pallidum<\/jats:italic>\n                    from an anal swab and an oral rinse between November 2019 and March 2020. Participants were serologically screened for syphilis using chemiluminescence immunoassay. A total of 309 asymptomatic participants provided an anal swab and oral rinse sample for\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">T. pallidum<\/jats:italic>\n                    PCR screening. Two syphilis cases (0.6%) were detected: one man had a positive serology only; another man had\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">T. pallidum<\/jats:italic>\n                    detected by PCR from an anal swab and a positive serology. PCR positivity was 0.3% (\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n<\/jats:italic>\n                    = 1) for anal swabs and 0% (\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n<\/jats:italic>\n                    = 0) for oral rinse. In this study,\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">T. pallidum<\/jats:italic>\n                    PCR screening at routine PrEP clinic visits did not identify additional cases of early syphilis over serological screening performed at these visits.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>IMPORTANCE<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      With the ongoing syphilis epidemic in men who have sex with men (MSM), we investigated the role of using\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Treponema pallidum<\/jats:italic>\n                      polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing at the oral cavity and anus in MSM taking pre-exposure prophylaxis for the early detection of syphilis. We evaluated whether the PCR tests from these mucosal sites can detect syphilis infection early, before the development of syphilis antibodies in serology. Our study found two syphilis cases among 309 MSM, and only one syphilis case had a positive anal PCR swab, although serology was positive. We conclude that additional PCR testing is likely to be expensive and would not be cost effective for individuals who regularly screen for syphilis. However, future studies with a larger sample size are required.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1128\/spectrum.00794-23","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,6]],"date-time":"2023-09-06T09:02:25Z","timestamp":1693990945000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["<i>Treponema pallidum<\/i>\n                    PCR screening at mucosal sites of asymptomatic men who have sex with men taking HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis"],"prefix":"10.1128","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2560-3233","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ei T.","family":"Aung","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Central Clinical School, Monash University","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christopher K.","family":"Fairley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Central Clinical School, Monash University","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7363-6665","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Deborah A.","family":"Williamson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases, The University of Melbourne, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]},{"name":"Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francesca","family":"Azzato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rebecca","family":"Wigan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Julien","family":"Tran","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Central Clinical School, Monash University","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrew","family":"Buchanan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tina","family":"Schmidt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1766-0657","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eric P. F.","family":"Chow","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Central Clinical School, Monash University","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]},{"name":"Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marcus Y.","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Central Clinical School, Monash University","place":["Melbourne, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"235","reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(21)00221-7"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_3_2","unstructured":"Kirby Institute . 2021. 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