Lymphogranuloma Venereum in Australia: AnorectalChlamydia trachomatisSerovar L2b in Men Who Have Sex with Men

Abstract

Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) is a sexually transmitted infection that is causing an ongoing epidemic in men who have sex with men (MSM) in Europe, the United Kingdom, and North America. Twenty-nine rectal swabs positive for Chlamydia trachomatis were analyzed by real-time PCR for the presence of LGV serovars. Genotyping revealed an identical L2b serovar from four specimens. All patients were MSM and human immunodeficiency virus infected. Three of the four presented with severe ulcerative proctitis. We report a cluster of rectal LGV serovar L2b infections in Sydney, Australia.

Development and Evaluation of anompAQuantitative Real-Time PCR Assay forChlamydia trachomatisSerovar Determination

“…Outbreaks of LGV serovar L2, and in particular LGV biovar L2b, throughout Europe since 2003 have highlighted the importance of C. trachomatis serovar identification (28). The LGV outbreak has occurred predominantly among high-risk MSM populations, including HIV-positive individuals (23), whose presence has been noted in Australia (22). Given the significance of LGV serovars and the severity of their associated disease, close monitoring for early detection is considered highly relevant.…”

Lymphogranuloma venereum proctocolitis: a silent endemic disease in men who have sex with men in industrialised countries

“…A previously non-described L2b Chlamydia variant has been identified as the main causative agent [11,27,30,43,44]. Nevertheless, this variant seems to have been circulating in the NL since 2000 (no earlier samples were available) and has also been detected retrospectively in rectal samples from symptomatic MSM collected from 1979 to 1985 in San Francisco (LGV represented 13% of the collected samples and 67.3% of the C. trachomatispositive samples) [45].…”

“…They presented with a median duration of 3 months of unspecific intestinal symptoms and 46% had another concomitant STD [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Several outbreaks in MSM have so far been reported in Western Europe, Australia and the USA, clustering in large cities [2,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][27][28][29][30][31][32].…”

Anorectal lymphogranuloma venereum: the first two confirmed cases in Portugal

“…However, since 2003, an outbreak of anorectal LGV has emerged in Western Europe [1][2][3][4] and in non-Europeans countries [5][6][7] in men who have sex with men (MSM).…”