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Table of Contents

December 2017

Cover

Sexually transmitted infections - research priorities for new challenges
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More than 1 million people acquire a sexually transmitted infection (STI) each day. These infections, when not treated, take their toll in grievous outcomes—notably cancer deaths, infertility, and birth complications including stillbirth. Social stigma that limits care-seeking, causal pathogens with diverse characteristics, and commonly mild or nonexistent symptoms all contribute to the pernicious effects of STIs.

This month, PLOS Medicine features new research submitted in response to the Call for Papers for our Collection on "The Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Infections." This Collection research is varied in both topic and approach. Included studies address efficacy of an online STI testing service in the UK, prevalence of dual-strain HSV-2 infection, challenges facing health care providers managing STI care in Kenya, and market barriers to the global provision of an off-patent antibiotic used to prevent mother-to-child transmission of syphilis. Expert commentary on informed approaches to identifying the next STI, and future clinical significance of the vaginal microbiome, are featured as well. The Collection will continue in early 2018.

In the accompanying Editorial, Nicola Low of the University of Bern, Switzerland and Nathalie Broutet of the World Health Organization (WHO), Guest Editors for the Collection, highlight key advances from the month’s papers and discuss prominent challenges and priorities in the field.

Image Credit: eric molina/Flickr, NIAID/Flickr, kerryank/Pixabay

Editorial

Sexually transmitted infections—Research priorities for new challenges

Nicola Low, Nathalie J. Broutet

PLOS Medicine: published December 27, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002481

Essays

Research on HIV cure: Mapping the ethics landscape

Karine Dubé, Laurie Sylla, Lynda Dee, Jeff Taylor, David Evans, Carl Dean Bruton, Adam Gilberston, Lisa Gralinski, Brandon Brown, Asheley Skinner, Bryan J. Weiner, Sandra B. Greene, Amy Corneli, Adaora A. Adimora, Joseph D. Tucker, Stuart Rennie

PLOS Medicine: published December 8, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002470

Re-emerging and newly recognized sexually transmitted infections: Can prior experiences shed light on future identification and control?

Kyle Bernstein, Virginia B. Bowen, Caron R. Kim, Michel J. Counotte, Robert D. Kirkcaldy, Edna Kara, Gail Bolan, Nicola Low, Nathalie Broutet

PLOS Medicine: published December 27, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002474

Perspectives

Bridging the quality chasm in maternal, newborn, and child healthcare in low- and middle-income countries

Lars Åke Persson

PLOS Medicine: published December 12, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002465

Related Articles

  1. Association between infrastructure and observed quality of care in 4 healthcare services: A cross-sectional study of 4,300 facilities in 8 countries

Antiretroviral therapy and population mortality: Leveraging routine national data to advance policy

Amitabh B. Suthar, Till Bärnighausen

PLOS Medicine: published December 12, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002469

Related Articles

  1. Estimating the impact of antiretroviral treatment on adult mortality trends in South Africa: A mathematical modelling study

The vaginal microbiome and sexually transmitted infections are interlinked: Consequences for treatment and prevention

Janneke H. H. M. van de Wijgert

PLOS Medicine: published December 27, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002478

Research Articles

Effects of women’s groups practising participatory learning and action on preventive and care-seeking behaviours to reduce neonatal mortality: A meta-analysis of cluster-randomised trials

Nadine Seward, Melissa Neuman, Tim Colbourn, David Osrin, Sonia Lewycka, Kishwar Azad, Anthony Costello, Sushmita Das, Edward Fottrell, Abdul Kuddus, Dharma Manandhar, Nirmala Nair, Bejoy Nambiar, Neena Shah More, Tambosi Phiri, Prasanta Tripathy, Audrey Prost

PLOS Medicine: published December 5, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002467

Psychosocial and socioeconomic determinants of cardiovascular mortality in Eastern Europe: A multicentre prospective cohort study

Taavi Tillmann, Hynek Pikhart, Anne Peasey, Ruzena Kubinova, Andrzej Pajak, Abdonas Tamosiunas, Sofia Malyutina, Andrew Steptoe, Mika Kivimäki, Michael Marmot, Martin Bobak

PLOS Medicine: published December 6, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002459

Association between infrastructure and observed quality of care in 4 healthcare services: A cross-sectional study of 4,300 facilities in 8 countries

Hannah H. Leslie, Zeye Sun, Margaret E. Kruk

PLOS Medicine: published December 12, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002464

Related Articles

  1. Bridging the quality chasm in maternal, newborn, and child healthcare in low- and middle-income countries

Estimating the impact of antiretroviral treatment on adult mortality trends in South Africa: A mathematical modelling study

Leigh F. Johnson, Margaret T. May, Rob E. Dorrington, Morna Cornell, Andrew Boulle, Matthias Egger, Mary-Ann Davies

PLOS Medicine: published December 12, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002468

Related Articles

  1. Antiretroviral therapy and population mortality: Leveraging routine national data to advance policy

Estimated clinical impact of the Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra cartridge for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis: A modeling study

Emily A. Kendall, Samuel G. Schumacher, Claudia M. Denkinger, David W. Dowdy

PLOS Medicine: published December 14, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002472

Cell salvage and donor blood transfusion during cesarean section: A pragmatic, multicentre randomised controlled trial (SALVO)

Khalid S. Khan, Philip A. S. Moore, Matthew J. Wilson, Richard Hooper, Shubha Allard, Ian Wrench, Lee Beresford, Tracy E. Roberts, Carol McLoughlin, James Geoghegan, Jane P. Daniels, Sue Catling, Vicki A. Clark, Paul Ayuk, Stephen Robson, Fang Gao-Smith, Matthew Hogg, Doris Lanz, Julie Dodds, on behalf of the SALVO study group

PLOS Medicine: published December 19, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002471

Shortages of benzathine penicillin for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of syphilis: An evaluation from multi-country surveys and stakeholder interviews

Stephen Nurse-Findlay, Melanie M. Taylor, Margaret Savage, Maeve B. Mello, Sanni Saliyou, Manuel Lavayen, Frederic Seghers, Michael L. Campbell, Françoise Birgirimana, Leopold Ouedraogo, Morkor Newman Owiredu, Nancy Kidula, Lee Pyne-Mercier

PLOS Medicine: published December 27, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002473

Dual-strain genital herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection in the US, Peru, and 8 countries in sub-Saharan Africa: A nested cross-sectional viral genotyping study

Christine Johnston, Amalia Magaret, Pavitra Roychoudhury, Alexander L. Greninger, Daniel Reeves, Joshua Schiffer, Keith R. Jerome, Cassandra Sather, Kurt Diem, Jairam R. Lingappa, Connie Celum, David M. Koelle, Anna Wald

PLOS Medicine: published December 27, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002475

Internet-accessed sexually transmitted infection (e-STI) testing and results service: A randomised, single-blind, controlled trial

Emma Wilson, Caroline Free, Tim P. Morris, Jonathan Syred, Irrfan Ahamed, Anatole S. Menon-Johansson, Melissa J. Palmer, Sharmani Barnard, Emma Rezel, Paula Baraitser

PLOS Medicine: published December 27, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002479

Healthcare provider perspectives on managing sexually transmitted infections in HIV care settings in Kenya: A qualitative thematic analysis

Kipruto Chesang, Sureyya Hornston, Odylia Muhenje, Teresa Saliku, Joy Mirjahangir, Amanda Viitanen, Helgar Musyoki, Christine Awuor, George Githuka, Naomi Bock

PLOS Medicine: published December 27, 2017 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002480