Advisory Issued on Rare Disease Spread by Sex
U.S. health officials are warning doctors to be on the lookout for a rare sexually transmitted disease on the rise among gay men in Europe. Lymphogranuloma venereum has been diagnosed in more than 90 gay men inthe Netherlands in 2003 and 2004; cases have also been reported in Belgium, France, and Sweden. LGV is caused by a variant of the bacterium that causes chlamydia and is treatable by antibiotics; it can cause severe gastrointestinal distress and inflammation and bleeding in the colon and rectum.
CDC officials have warned that LGV could spread to the United States,where most doctors have never treated a case. "You can get really sickwith this, but it doesn't present like an STD, and neither clinicians nor patients will be thinking of an STD," says Dr. Stuart Berman, chiefof the epidemiology and surveillance branch of STD prevention at theCDC. "If you treat it like colitis, you might be treating it with drugs that can make the STD worse." Diagnosed mostly among heterosexuals in developing countries, LGV usually causes genital lesions and swelling in the lymph nodes in the groin. Berman says men who experience the rectal symptoms most likely acquired LGV through unprotected anal intercourse. LGV, though not unknown in the United States, is extremely rare, said Berman, who isconcerned because increased risk-taking among US gay men has led to STD increases in recent years. "If you are traveling to other cities and meeting casual sex partners on the Internet, and they've been to other cities, then all you need is one person to introduce this into a sexual network," Berman says.Advanced lab tests are required to diagnose LGV, says Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, STD clinic director at the San Francisco department of public health, which has not yet seen any cases. Officials are concerned thatLGV-caused rectal inflammation and ulceration could facilitate the transmission of HIV and other blood-borne diseases.
The CDC's report, "Lymphogranuloma Venereum Among Men Who Have Sex with Men--Netherlands, 2003-2004" was published in "Morbidity and MortalityWeekly Report," Volume 53, Number 42.
[This summary provided by the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention The New York Times November 9, 2004 David Tuller]
CDC officials have warned that LGV could spread to the United States,where most doctors have never treated a case. "You can get really sickwith this, but it doesn't present like an STD, and neither clinicians nor patients will be thinking of an STD," says Dr. Stuart Berman, chiefof the epidemiology and surveillance branch of STD prevention at theCDC. "If you treat it like colitis, you might be treating it with drugs that can make the STD worse." Diagnosed mostly among heterosexuals in developing countries, LGV usually causes genital lesions and swelling in the lymph nodes in the groin. Berman says men who experience the rectal symptoms most likely acquired LGV through unprotected anal intercourse. LGV, though not unknown in the United States, is extremely rare, said Berman, who isconcerned because increased risk-taking among US gay men has led to STD increases in recent years. "If you are traveling to other cities and meeting casual sex partners on the Internet, and they've been to other cities, then all you need is one person to introduce this into a sexual network," Berman says.Advanced lab tests are required to diagnose LGV, says Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, STD clinic director at the San Francisco department of public health, which has not yet seen any cases. Officials are concerned thatLGV-caused rectal inflammation and ulceration could facilitate the transmission of HIV and other blood-borne diseases.
The CDC's report, "Lymphogranuloma Venereum Among Men Who Have Sex with Men--Netherlands, 2003-2004" was published in "Morbidity and MortalityWeekly Report," Volume 53, Number 42.
[This summary provided by the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention The New York Times November 9, 2004 David Tuller]
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