The epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases in Africa and Latin America
Goeman, J.; Piot, P.
Seminars in Dermatology 9(2): 105-108
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0278-145X PMID: 2202406 Document Number: 372679
Aspects of sexually transmitted diseases (STDS) peculiar to the developing countries in South America and sub-Saharan Africa are discussed. The most common STD infections are N. Gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, T. pallidum and T. vaginalis. Vertical transmission, particularly of syphilis among prostitutes, and of Chlamydia and gonorrhea after ophthalmia neonatorum, are common. Chlamydia is also a common respiratory tract infection in African neonates. Late complications of STDs, infertility and ectopic pregnancy, and particularly pelvic inflammatory disease, are responsible for a high proportion of hospitalizations. Antibiotic resistant gonorrhea strains are common, a result of poorly managed antibiotic treatment. Genital ulcer diseases (GUD), which predispose to HIV infections, are more common in Africa than in developed countries, not only herpes but chancroid, donovanosis and lymphogranuloma venereum. Chancroid, caused by Haemophilus ducreyi, causes 36-49% of ulcers in 2 reports. The L1-L3 strains of Chlamydia trachomatis cause lymphogranuloma venereum, the agent responsible for ulcers in 3.6-6.1% of 2 clinic populations. HIV infections have an equal sex ratio in Africa, with a younger age incidence in women and a high vertical transmission rate, while in Latin America, bisexual men, and increasingly, heterosexual transmission by intravenous drug users is reported. There is also an HIV-2 virus, whose virulence is in question, common in West Africa.