Non‐Syphilitic Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Abstract

Non‐treponemal bacterial sexually transmitted infections, of which gonorrhoea and genital chlamydia are the commonest, have important consequences for maternal and neonatal health worldwide. Transmission is facilitated by their high infectivity and variable periods of asymptomatic carriage. Diagnostic tests have become more sensitive and treatment schedules have recently changed to reflect increasing concerns about antimicrobial resistance. Chancroid has become a sporadic cause of genital ulceration in the UK, usually acquired during travel abroad. Its causative organism, Haemophilus ducreyi , is now also recognised in yaws‐like cutaneous lesions in children within isolated communities in tropical countries. Lymphogranuloma venereum has evolved and is now more usually diagnosed as a cause of rectal bleeding resembling inflammatory bowel disease, especially in men who have sex with men, with concomitant HIV infection. Granuloma inguinale has become rare worldwide. Mycoplasma genitalium has emerged as another cause of genital tract infection with clinical features similar those of genital chlamydia but where treatment failure is increasing.