Genital ulcers caused by sexually transmitted diseases: current therapies, diagnosis and their relevance in HIV pandemy.

The sexual transmitted pathogens associated with genital ulcers are Treponema pallidum, Haemophilus ducreyi, Calymmatobacterium granulomatis, Chlamydia trachomatis and Herpes simplex virus type 1 or 2. Although geographic differences still exist, herpetic infections prevalence is growing worldwide as the most frequent ulcerative sexual transmitted disease. The failure of the many different used guidelines in achieving a sustained reduction in the number of new cases, in particular the WHO syndromic management, leads into an over treatment of bacterial agents and missing of viral agents. This situation is also associated with poor efficacy and wasting of economical resources. Ulcerative and non-ulcerative sexual transmitted diseases are important in the world HIV pandemy because they promote HIV transmission and are also associated with the disease evolution. Portugal had until recently the highest incidence of HIV infection in Europe and that points out to importance of treating and control of both ulcerative and non-ulcerative sexual transmitted diseases in order.