The Etiology of Genital Ulcer Disease among Patients Attending Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinics in Guangzhou,China

To investigate the etiology of genital ulcer disease (GUD) among patients attending sexually transmitted disease(STD)clinics in Guangzhou,China.Between September 8,1998,and August 9,assessed.Clinical etiology of GUD was dependent on including the following:dark field microscopy and serology for Treponema pallidum(TP),swabs of genital ulcer for simultaneous detection of HSV,TP,Haemophius ducreyi (HD),Human papillomavirus(HPV),and serology for HIV infection.Two hundred thirty men and thirty-seven women with a median age of 33.4(range 16-74 years)were analyzed.The etiology of GUD was syphilis(26.59%)(71/267),genital herpes(17.60%)(47/267),condylomata acuminata(4.87%)(13/267),candidiasis(3.37%)(10/267),and multipe infection(6.74%)(18/267).The seroprevalence of HIV was 0.07%(2/267).No etiology was identified in 50.56%(135/267).The etiology of GUD among STD patients in our area was multifactorial with a predominance of syphilis and genital herpes.Based on this limited data obtained at STD clinics,HIV infection was not common.