Utilizing prenatal screening, social networking, and community partnerships to conduct investigations: A unique public health cluster

Issues: Prenatal HIV screening provides for public health follow-up of pregnant women, and the detection of new cases among young adults. Contacting young adults and adolescents during public health follow up is often challenging for an investigator. Non-traditional methods of contacting young adults are not fully utilized during public health investigations. Description: A local health department received a report of a new prenatal HIV case, and initiated a public health investigation. This investigation resulted in 38 young adults and adolescents being screened. Among those tested were three new cases of HIV and two cases of early syphilis. The investigator utilized social networking to aid in locating and contacting clients. Collaborative relationships were formed with school administrative and nursing staff to reach school-aged clients. Lessons Learned: Social networking is an effective way to locate and contact young adults and adolescents for public health follow-up. Collaboration with school officials and nurses is instrumental in successfully conducting disease intervention with school-aged clients. Prenatal HIV testing can be beneficial for disease prevention within the entire community. Recommendations: Increasing education about the benefits of prenatal care will increase the detection of HIV/STIs in pregnancy. Developing policies to utilize social networking will increase the number of people screened and educated during public health follow-up. Forming relationships with school administrative and nursing staff will facilitate contact with school-aged clients.