CARE-NS, a research strategy for neurosyphilis

Fang-Zhi Du; Xu Zhang; Rui-Li Zhang; Qian-Qiu Wang

doi:10.3389/fmed.2022.1040133

CARE-NS, a research strategy for neurosyphilis

Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 Jan 6:9:1040133. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.1040133. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Fang-Zhi Du¹, Xu Zhang¹, Rui-Li Zhang², Qian-Qiu Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Dermatology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, National Center for STD Control, China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, China.
² Department of Dermatology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.

Abstract

Neurosyphilis is a major clinical manifestation of syphilis. In recent years, an increase in neurosyphilis cases has been reported in many countries. The overall incidence of neurosyphilis remains unknown, and there is a lack of understanding of the disease pathogenesis, which hampers clinical management, development of prevention strategies, and control. This article proposes the CARE-NS research strategy to enhance the clinical management of neurosyphilis, which consists of six key features: comprehensive management including multidisciplinary treatment (C), alleviating neurological impairment and sequelae (A), risk factors and clinical epidemiology (R), etiology and pathogenesis (E), new diagnostic indicators and strategies (N), and social impact and cost-effectiveness analysis (S).

Keywords: CARE-NS strategy; clinical management; epidemiology; neurosyphilis; prevention and control.