It's Valentine's Day, so don't be afraid to fall in love...you may not actually catch a disease.
A recent study of five U.S. labs shows about 18% of the positive results from a test method used since the 1980s to determine syphilis were actually negative. Experts previously thought the false positive was much lower, below 7%. Oh, science, for an empirical discipline you're so uncertain.
Besides the incorrect concern, it means some patients were given unnecessary treatments, like penicillin, which can have adverse side effects...though are they worse than untreated syphilis? Syphilis testing is recommended for all pregnant women and for people considered to be at high risk for sexually transmitted diseases (whores, right?), and the CDC supports additional testing when this particular test gives a positive result.
At least a CDC epidemiologist had a wry retort - "It doesn't miss people who are infected." Zing!
A recent study of five U.S. labs shows about 18% of the positive results from a test method used since the 1980s to determine syphilis were actually negative. Experts previously thought the false positive was much lower, below 7%. Oh, science, for an empirical discipline you're so uncertain.
Besides the incorrect concern, it means some patients were given unnecessary treatments, like penicillin, which can have adverse side effects...though are they worse than untreated syphilis? Syphilis testing is recommended for all pregnant women and for people considered to be at high risk for sexually transmitted diseases (whores, right?), and the CDC supports additional testing when this particular test gives a positive result.
At least a CDC epidemiologist had a wry retort - "It doesn't miss people who are infected." Zing!
No comments:
Post a Comment