Infectious Disease

Our infectious disease service staff identify and monitor infectious disease outbreaks in the community. Working with area physicians and other community partners, our staff investigate outbreaks of foodborne illness, as well as locate and refer people who have been potentially exposed to tuberculosis (TB), HIV, or other sexually-transmitted diseases to local services. Staff also monitor disease outbreaks in the community, such as flu and other respiratory illnesses.

Epidemiology

The Epidemiology program seeks to prevent disease transmission in the community through surveillance, contact investigations, and education. Staff investigate reportable diseases to determine the source of the disease, the time and mode of transmission, and the number of people potentially exposed or impacted.

Area 1 STD

The Area 1 STD program provides many services to persons in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Walton counties in Northwest Florida, including prevention services, disease surveillance, education, testing, and treatment. Disease Intervention Specialists (DIS) serve as front-line defense in contact investigations and partner elicitation to intervene in the spread of STDs. Staff also collaborate with public and private health care providers regarding diagnosis and treatment of all reportable STDs.

12 MONTHLY OUTREACHES TO TEEN CHALLENGE.

9 EDUCATIONAL TRAINING ACTIVITIES.

11 AFTER-HOURS HIV/SYPHILIS NIGHT CLINIC OUTREACHES

STD Race Breakdown

WHITE – 1,015 cases – 30.00%

BLACK – 1,928 cases – 56.99%

ASIAN – 21 cases – 0.62%

AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN NATIVE – 3 cases – 0.09%

NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER – 6 cases – 0.18%

OTHER – 68 cases – 2.01%

UNKNOWN – 342 cases – 10.11%

STD Gender Breakdown

MALES 1,472

FEMALES 1,911

2021 Reported STDs

Chlamydia 2,096

Gonorrhea 1,114

Syphilis 137

HIV 36

Spotlight

FDOH-Escambia is proud to announce Disease Intervention Specialists (DIS) CheBreia Gibbs and McKenna Hyman have been recognized for their outstanding work in the field of Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) intervention. CheBreia Gibbs was honored with the 2021 Tommy Chandler DIS Excellence Award, and McKenna Hyman received the Tommy Chandler Honorary Recognition Award. The Tommy Chandler DIS Excellence Award is presented to a DIS staff member in recognition for outstanding dedication and supreme service as a DIS to the citizens of Florida. It is the highest award in Florida that recognizes the work of STD DIS staff members.

McKenna Hyman Earns Honorary Recognition Award and CheBreia Gibbs Honored with 2021 Tommy Chandler DIS Excellence Award.

Pictured above from left to right: McKenna Hyman, 2021 Tommy Chandler DIS Honorary Recognition Award recipient, Patty Dwiggins, Area 1 STD Program Manager, Beate Bolton, Executive Community Health Nursing Director, and CheBreia Gibbs, 2021 Tommy Chandler DIS Excellence Award recipient.

Area 1 HIV/AIDS

The Area 1 HIV/AIDS program is a regional program covering four counties (Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton) that provides disease surveillance, prevention services, education, counseling, testing, training, referral, perinatal linkage, contract management, technical assistance and support to community-based organizations and health care facilities.

Services for HIV positive individuals who are uninsured or under-insured are provided through the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which offers life-saving medications and adherence counseling. In 2021, FDOH-Escambia’s ADAP provided services to 270 active clients. In addition, the HIV/AIDS program oversees Ryan White Part B contracted providers for direct care and support services such as HIV specialty care, oral health, and mental health.

The HIV/AIDS program also oversees the Housing Opportunities for Person with AIDS (HOPWA) contracted provider that works to prevent the condition of homelessness from occurring to individuals and families living with HIV/ AIDS; or if already homeless, to transition individuals and families back into stable housing as soon as possible using various strategies such as Short-Term, Rent, Mortgage, Utilities (STRMU) Assistance, Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA), Transitional Housing, and Permanent Housing Placement (PHP).

Perinatal Linkage

The Perinatal Linkage Program is an important component of the Area 1 HIV/AIDS Program. The goal is to reach pregnant females who have HIV to ensure that they are in care, that they keep and make all their appointments, and that they are adhering to their medication regimen to reduce the chance of vertical transmission.

11 EXPOSED BABIES BORN TO HIV POSITIVE MOTHERS IN AREA 1 EXPOSED BABIES BORN TO HIV

6 OF THOSE BABIES WERE BORN IN ESCAMBIA; NONE OF THE BABIES TESTED POSITIVE FOR HIV.

Test and Treat Initiative

The Test and Treat (TnT) initiative is a key component of Florida’s plan to eliminate HIV transmission and reduce HIV-related deaths. The TnT initiative is a clinical program providing immediate linkage to HIV care and initiation of antiretroviral treatment (ART) during that first visit. Starting treatment immediately is important especially if an individual is in the acute stage where the viral level is high and the individual is extremely infectious. ART adherence will reduce the viral level to undetectable, making one virtually unable to sexually transmit HIV.

19 UNINSURED OR UNDER- INSURED PATIENTS PROVIDED WITH IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO HIV MEDICATION AND LINKAGE TO CARE.

PrEP and PEP Program

PrEP (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis) became a full-service program in 2019. PrEP is treatment with medication that may prevent infection before being exposed to HIV. PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) became a fullservice program in 2020. PEP is immediate treatment that may prevent infection after being exposed to HIV. PEP treatment must start within 72 hours of the exposure. PEP treatment involves taking HIV medications for 28 days and is most effective (up to 99%) if taken within 2-3 hours after exposure. In a single visit, a new PrEP/PEP client can receive comprehensive counseling and education from the PrEP/PEP Navigator, required lab work, a medical visit with a clinician, and leave with medication. PrEP patients return every three months for follow-up lab work, risk reduction education and assistance with Patient Assistance Program requirements. PEP patients return a month later to have another HIV test performed and discuss the possibility of becoming a PrEP patient.

In 2021, FDOH-Escambia’s PrEP/PEP Program had:

27 ACTIVE PrEP CLIENTS

12.5% FEMALE

25% BLACK

62% WERE MSM

15 PEP CLIENTS SERVED

Community Outreach

Community outreach is an integral part of the HIV program’s mission, and the use of its mobile unit served to move testing from the traditional to the nontraditional setting, making HIV testing more accessible. This is very important considering fewer than 40% of individuals in the country have ever been tested for HIV, according to the CDC. The program used its mobile unit during its barber shop tour initiative providing testing on the grounds of six different barber shops in which 48 individuals were tested over a two-week period. The mobile unit was also used at four other community outreach events in which 53 individuals were tested.

Pictured above: FDOH-Escambia staff with community partners at the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Event in Pensacola on February 6, 2021.

Community Engagement

Notwithstanding COVID-19, the HIV program worked to keep the HIV prevention message in the forefront. Staff gave seven radio interviews in 2021, the program conducted a 6-week billboard campaign touting the undetectable equals untransmittable (U=U) message which was unveiled during a U=U press conference, prevention messages were also placed on the city buses, and developed prevention messages on tri-folds display boards which were placed at Pensacola State College, University of West Florida, barber shops, the downtown library, several area housing complexes, and at FDOH-Escambia itself.

Pictured above: Maurice Moody presenting on HIV prevention at the press conference to unveil HIV/AIDS prevention campaign on November 10, 2021.

Pictured from left to right: Dr. Vanessa Phillips, Lumon May, Maurice Moody, and Erica Douglas at the press conference to unveil HIV/AIDS prevention campaign on November 10, 2021.

HIV Surveillance

HIV surveillance collects, analyzes, and disseminates information about new and existing cases of HIV infection (including AIDS). To ensure accuracy through the duplication process, HIV data have close to a 9-month lag time. Therefore, the 2021 data won’t be released until around the end of August 2022. Area 1 reported the following data in 2020:

62 INDIVIDUALS WERE NEWLY DIAGNOSED WITH HIV

19.48% DOWN FROM 2019 (76)

19.5% DOWN FOUR-YEAR TREND IN NEW CASES FROM 2016-2020

24.2% BETWEEN THE AGE OF 25-29

16.1% BETWEEN THE AGE OF 20-24

55% OF NEW HIV DIAGNOSIS WERE MEN WHO HAVE SEXUAL CONTACT WITH OTHER MEN (MSM)

42% WERE HETEROSEXUAL CONTACT

3.2% WERE PERSONS WHO INJECT DRUGS (IDU)

65% OF NEW HIV DIAGNOSIS REPORTED WERE IN ESCAMBIA COUNTY.

10 EXPOSED BABIES BORN TO HIV POSITIVE MOTHERS IN AREA 1. THERE WERE TWO SETS OF TWINS

88% OF THE MOTHERS WERE BLACK. 12% WERE WHITE.

8 OF THE BABIES WERE BORN IN ESCAMBIA, 2 WERE BORN IN OKALOSSA COUNTY

29 WAS THE AVERAGE AGE OF MOTHERS. AGES RANGED FROM 22-40

ALL OF THE BABIES TESTED NEGATIVE

Pictured from left to right: Ken Griffen, Jennifer Hill and Maurice Moody at an HIV Testing Event on June-26, 2021

Tuberculosis Prevention and Control

The Tuberculosis (TB) Prevention and Control program staff collaborate with clinicians throughout Escambia County, Florida to ensure that persons diagnosed with TB receive effective and timely treatment and additional contacts who are potentially exposed to the disease are evaluated and treated as needed.

The TB case rate for the State of Florida increased 21% from 2020 to 2021. In 2020, the State of Florida reported 413 TB cases and in 2021, a total of 498 TB cases were reported. These numbers represent a decrease of 11% from 2019 to 2021. The State TB office in Tallahassee is suspecting the lower case rate is due to COVID-19 and the variants that were reported in 2021.

In 2021, the focus on Infectious Disease was COVID-19 and its variants. A total of 6 infectious TB cases were reported in 2021. Fourteen contacts were treated for Latent TB infection. The TB program evaluated 103 contacts to cases, completed 393 nursing assessments, completed 775 directly observed therapies, performed 99 IGRA blood tests and 37 tuberculin skin tests.

For World TB Day on March 24, 2021, the TB Program focused on educating the community about using 3HP to treat Latent TB infection before it becomes active infectious disease.

Registered Nurse, Pamela Nelson, presented a Lunch and Learn for the SNTC (Southeastern National Tuberculosis Center) on Therapeutic Drug Monitoring on December 2, 2021. There were 73 participants from 11 states in the SNTC region.

Pictured above from left to right: Vanessa Wilson, Pamela Nelson, Beate Bolton, and Laura Sikes attend the virtual 2021 National TB Conference on June 25, 2021.

Pictured from left to right: Beate Bolton, Pamela Nelson, Vanessa Wilson, and Patricia Hammonds on World TB Day on March 24, 2021.

Spotlight

Pamela Nelson Earns National TB Award

​Pamela Nelson was awarded the “Carol Pozsik TB Nursing Award” from the National TB controllers Association (NTCA). The NTCA honors individuals for their dedication and distinguished service in the field of tuberculosis. This particular award honors exemplary care, service, dedication, or leadership in the field of public health TB nursing.

Pictured above: Pamela Nelson, 2021 NTCA Award Recipient during the virtual 2021 National TB Conference on June 25, 2021.