1/4. Sexually transmitted disease, ethnomedicine and health policy in africa.Compared with both industrialized countries and other less developed parts of the world, most of sub-Saharan africa suffers inordinately from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). It has high prevalence rates of traditional STDs, such as gonorrhea and syphilis, and if accurate seroprevalence surveys were to be done, it would probably prove to have the highest hiv seropositive incidence in the world. Unlike the pattern in the West, AIDS is primarily a heterosexually transmitted disease in africa. This appears to be largely because of the prevalence of other untreated or improperly treated STDs. Therefore to lower the incidence of STDs would be to curtail the spread of hiv infection. The problem becomes how exactly to accomplish this. Most STD cases are never even presented at biomedical health facilities; they are presented to traditional healers. Both healers and their patients seem to believe that traditional STD cures are more effective than 'modern' cures, although the former are probably biomedically ineffective. While there is scant ethnomedical literature on STDs in africa, the present paper presents swaziland findings and related evidence from other African societies that the ultimate cause of several common STDs is believed to be the violation of norms governing sexual behavior, requiring traditional rather than biomedical treatment. Traditional healers therefore need to be a central part of any scheme to lower the incidence of STDs.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = gonorrhea (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/4. Vaginal chlamydia trachomatis infection in children with sexual contact.To determine whether vaginal infections with chlamydia trachomatis in children were associated with sexual contact, 50 children ages 1 to 12 years with a history of sexual contact and 34 children without such a history were studied. Vaginal, throat and rectal cultures for C. trachomatis and neisseria gonorrhoeae were performed in all children. Three children with sexual contact and none of the children without a history of sexual contact had vaginal infections. The three infected children were asymptomatic and only one had had vaginal intercourse. None of the 10 children with a history of sexual contact and gonorrheal vaginitis had C. trachomatis isolated. Although C. trachomatis vaginal infections as detected by vaginal cultures are infrequent, we recommend that all girls being evaluated for sexual contact be routinely cultured for C. trachomatis so that those infected can be treated.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = gonorrhea (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/4. Multiple sexually transmitted diseases.There are at least 16 possible sexually transmitted diseases, and it is not uncommon to find patients suffering from two or more sexually transmitted infections or infestations. Case histories of two men, one with gonorrhea, scabies, and pediculosis pubis, the other with syphilis and scabies, illustrate this point. It is to be emphasized that when one venereal disease is found, the clinician should look for another.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = gonorrhea (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/4. The gay bowel syndrome: clinico-pathologic correlation in 260 cases.The clinical and pathological findings in a group of 260 homosexual men comprising 10% of a private proctologic practice are reviewed. A clinical pattern of anorectal and colon diseases encountered with unusual frequency in these homosexual patients is termed the gay bowel syndrome. The clinical diagnoses in decreasing order of frequency include condyloma acuminata, hemorrhoids, nonspecific proctitis, anal fistula, perirectal abscess, anal fissure, amebiasis, benign polyps, viral hepatitis, gonorrhea, syphilis, anorectal trauma and foreign bodies, shigellosis, rectal ulcers and lymphogranuloma venereum. 60 anorectal and sigmoid biopsies from 51 patients failed to disclose evidence of specific infection other than condyloma acuminata. Of 21 patients with biopsy diagnosis of nonspecific proctitis, 8 had a specific infection which was detected by other means,--5 cases of shigellosis and one case each of gonorrheal proctitis, amebiasis and lymphogranuloma venereum. In evaluating proctologic problems in the gay male, all of the known sexually transmitted diseases should be considered. Shigellosis, amebiasis and viral hepatitis should be included. Microbiological evaluation is essential. Concurrent infections with 2 or more pathogens should be anticipated. chlamydia trachomatis, an important cause of nonspecific urethritis in the general population, is high on the list of possible causes of the nonspecific proctitis present in 31 of the 260 patients.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = gonorrhea (Clic here for more details about this article) |