Chancroid overview
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Chancroid overview On the Web |
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Chancroid is a sexually transmitted infection characterized by painful sores on the genitalia. Chancroid is known to be spread from one to another individual through sexual contact.
Historical Perspective
Chancoid has been known to humans since the time of the ancient Greeks. Chancroid was first differentiated from syphilis by Leon Bassereau in 1852. Augusto Ducrey identified Haemophilus ducreyi as the causative organism for chancroid in the 1890s.
Causes
Chancroid is a bacterial infection caused by the fastidious Gram-negative streptobacillus Haemophilus ducreyi. It is a disease found primarily in developing countries, associated with commercial sex workers and their clientele.
Epidemiology and Demographics
Infection levels are low in the western world, typically around one case per two million of the population (Canada, France, UK and USA). Most individuals diagnosed with chancroid have visited countries or areas where the disease is known to occur frequently, although outbreaks have been observed in association with crack cocaine use and prostitution.
Risk Factors
Uncircumcised men are at three times greater risk than circumcised men for contracting chancroid from an infected partner. Chancroid is a risk factor for contracting HIV, due to their ecological association or shared risk of exposure, and biologically facilitated transmission of one infection by the other.
Diagnosis
Symptoms
The characteristic lesion in chancroid is a painful ulcer. In men the most common site of this ulcer is the perpuce and in women the labia majora.
Treatment
Medical Therapy
The CDC recommendation for chancroid is a single oral dose of Azythromicin or a single IM dose of Ceftriaxone or oral Erythromycin for seven days.
References