TITLE
Title
DHHS-PUBLIC HEALTH DIVISION: WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES ANTIMICROBIAL - RESISTANT GONORRHEA CONTRACT - $319,323
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SPONSOR
Sponsor
Courtney McFadden
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BACKGROUND
Background
The Guilford County Department of Health and Human Services - Public Health Division (PH) maintains a collaborative health trends research partnership with Wake Forest University Health Sciences, supported through funding from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services - Epidemiology/Communicable Disease Branch. This partnership focuses on advancing surveillance and research related to antimicrobial-resistant gonorrhea.
Through this collaboration, Wake Forest University provides subject matter expertise, data analysis, clinical guidance, laboratory support, and access to advanced molecular testing. Joint efforts between PH and Wake Forest continue to strengthen local laboratory capacity, pilot innovative resistance testing methodologies, and develop responsive strategies to address emerging antimicrobial resistance.
Guilford County has participated in the Strengthening the U.S. Response to Resistant Gonorrhea (SURRG) initiative since 2017. Following the conclusion of SURRG, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the Combating Antimicrobial Resistant Gonorrhea and Other STIs (CARGOS) program, expanding participation from seven to twenty sites nationwide. The revised program scope emphasizes targeted specimen types and strengthens coordination across epidemiology, laboratory, and health information systems.
Core objectives of the CARGOS program include strengthening epidemiologic capacity to detect and respond to antimicrobial resistance, improving outbreak preparedness and response coordination, enhancing laboratory testing and reporting capabilities, and advancing integration across epidemiology, laboratory, and information technology functions.
The CARGOS initiative represents one component of a broader funding award...
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