Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Lithuania: Some Epidemiological and Social Aspects

Abstract

With political, economical and social changes in Lithuania following the break-up of the Soviet Union, the health-care system has changed. The old Soviet system has been abandoned and it has taken time to re-establish a system under the new government. Resources are limited in most aspects of health care, including sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This has, also limited the development of education packages on STIs which are so important when trying to combat the spread of HIV infection. Notifications of syphilis, in Lithuania, have increased 52 fold between 1990 and 1996 although, since then, the incidence has started to decrease. Syphilis has been more reliably notified than other STIs and serves as the most reliable indicator of STI trends.

The Epidemiology of Gonorrhea Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in Stockholm, Sweden, 1990–2004

“…The trend was similar in most other ex-Soviet Union countries, e.g. in Estonia the incidence increased during the early 1990s to 233 cases per 100,000 in 1993 and then declined again to 34 per 100,000 in 2003 [20,21], and in Lithuania the incidence rose to 152 cases per 100,000 in 1993 and then decreased to only 14 cases per 100,000 in 2004 [21,22].…”