Sexually transmitted diseases

Sexually transmitted diseases

Infections that are acquired and transmitted by sexual contact. Although virtually any infection may be transmitted during intimate contact, the term sexually transmitted disease is restricted to conditions that are largely dependent on sexual contact for their transmission and propagation in a population. The term venereal disease is literally synonymous with sexually transmitted disease but traditionally is associated with only five long-recognized diseases (syphilis, gonorrhea, chancroid, lymphogranuloma venereum, and donovanosis). Sexually transmitted diseases occasionally are acquired nonsexually (for example, by newborn infants from their mothers, or by clinical or laboratory personnel handling pathogenic organisms or infected secretions), but in adults they are virtually never acquired by contact with contaminated intermediaries such as towels, toilet seats, or bathing facilities. However, some sexually transmitted infections (such as human immunodeficiency virus infection, viral hepatitis, and cytomegalovirus infection) are transmitted primarily by sexual contact in some settings and by nonsexual means in others. See Gonorrhea, Syphilis

The sexually transmitted diseases may be classified in the traditional fashion, according to the causative pathogenic organisms, as follows:

• Bacteria
• Chlamydia trachomatis
• Neisseria gonorrhoeae
• Treponema pallidum
• Mycoplasma genitalium
• Mycoplasma hominis
• Ureaplasma urealyticum
• Haemophilis ducreyi
• Calymmatobacterium granulomatis
• Salmonella species
• Shigella species
• Campylobacter species
• Viruses
• Human immunodeficiency viruses
• (types 1 and 2)
• Herpes simplex viruses (types 1 and 2)
• Hepatitis viruses B, C, D
• Cytomegalovirus
• Human papillomaviruses
• Molluscum contagiosum virus
• Kaposi sarcoma virus
• Protozoa
• Trichomonas vaginalis
• Entamoeba histolytica
• Giardia lamblia
• Cryptosporidium and related species
• Ectoparasites
• Phthirus pubis (pubic louse)
• Sarcoptes scabiei (scabies mite)

Sexually transmitted diseases may also be classified according to clinical syndromes and complications that are caused by one or more pathogens as follows:

• 1. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and related conditions
• 2. Pelvic inflammatory disease
• 3. Female infertility
• 4. Ectopic pregnancy
• 5. Fetal and neonatal infections
• 6. Complications of pregnancy
• 7. Neoplasia
• 8. Human papillomavirus and genital warts
• 9. Genital ulcer-inguinal lymphadenopathy syndromes

• 10. Lower genital tract infection in women
• 11. Viral hepatitis and cirrhosis
• 12. Urethritis in men
• 13. Late syphilis
• 14. Epididymitis
• 15. Gastrointestinal infections
• 16. Acute arthritis
• 17. Mononucleosis syndromes
• 18. Molluscum contagiosum
• 19. Ectoparasite infestation

See Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), Drug resistance, Hepatitis

Most of these syndromes may be caused by more than one organism, often in conjunction with nonsexually transmitted pathogens. They are listed in the approximate order of their public health impact.