Sexually transmitted diseases

	Disease and synopsis of symptoms	Incubation period	Mode of transmission	Period of communicability

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
Acute viral infection characterized	Variable.	By direct sexual contact and	For duration of infection
	by breakdown and failure of				transmission of semen,
	immune system, opening body to				saliva, blood, or other
	often lethal infections and				body fluids. Also by
	disorders such as Kaposi's				blood transfusion or
	sarcoma, pneumonia, and				contaminated syringes.
	meningitis. Symptoms begin with
	fever, weight loss, fatigue,
	shortness of breath, diarrhea, and
	neurologic disorders.

Chancroid (ulcus molle, sort chancre)
Acute, localized, genital infection	From 3 to 5 days, up to 14	By direct sexual contact with	As long as infectious agent
	characterized by single or		days.		discharges from open		persists in original lesion
	multiple painful necrotizing				lesions and pus from		or discharging regional
	ulcers at site of inoculation,				buboes; suggestive		lymph nodes; usually until
	frequently accompanied by				evidence of asymptomatic		healed¾a matter of
	painful inflammatory swelling				infections in women.		weeks.
	and suppuration of regional				Multiple sexual partners
	lymph nodes. Extragenital lesions				and uncleanliness favor
	have been reported.				transmission.

Conjunctivitis, inclusion (swimming pool conjunctivitis, paratrachoma)
In the newborn, acute papillary	5 to 12 days.	During sexual intercourse;	While genital infection
	conjunctivitis with abundant				genital discharges of		persists; can be longer
	mucopurulent discharge. In				infected persons are		than 1 year in female.
	children and adults, acute				infectious.
	follicular conjunctivitis with
	preauricular lymphadenopathy,
	often with superficial corneal
	involvement.

Cytomegalovirus infections, congenital cytomegalovirus infection, cytomegalic inclusion disease
Most severe form of disease occurs	Information inexact. 3 to 8	Intimate exposure to	Virus is excreted in urine or
	in perinatal period, following		weeks following		infectious secretions or		saliva for months and may
	congenital infection, with signs		transfusion with infected		excretions. Virus is		persist for several years
	and symptoms of severe		blood. 3 to 12 weeks after		excreted in urine, saliva,		following primary
	generalized infection especially		birth.		cervical secretions, breast		infection.
	involving central nervous system				milk, and semen.
	and liver.

Gonococcal infections
A. Gonococcal infection of	Usually 2 to 7 days,	By contact with exudates	May extend for months if
	genitourinary tract (gonorrhea,	sometimes longer.		from mucous membranes		untreated, especially in
	gonococcal urethritis)				of infected persons,		females who frequently
Males—purulent discharge from				almost always result of		are asymptomatic.
	anterior urethra with dysuria				sexual activity.		Specific therapy usually
	appears 2 to 7 days after						ends communicability
	infecting exposure.						within hours except with
Females—few days alter exposure						penicillin-resistant strains.
	initial urethritis or cervicitis
	occurs, frequently so mild as to
	pass unnoticed. About 20% of
	patients have uterine invasion at
	the first, second, or later
	menstrual period, with symptoms
	of endometritis, salpingitis, or
	pelvic peritonitis.
B. Gonococcal conjunctivitis	Usually 1 to 5 days.	Contact with infected birth	While discharge persists if
	neonatorum (gonorrheal				canal during childbirth.		untreated; for 24 hours
	ophthalmia neonatorum)						following initiation of
Acute redness and swelling of						specific treatment.
	conjunctiva of one or both eyes,
	with mucopurulent or purulent
	discharge in which gonococci are
	identifiable by microscopic and
	cultural methods.

Granuloma inguinale (donovanosis)
Mildly communicable, nonfatal,	Unknown; probably 8 to 80	Presumably by direct contact	Unknown and probably for
	chronic and progressive,		days.		with lesions during sexual		duration of open lesions
	autoinoculable bacterial disease				activity.		on skin or mucous
	of skin and mucous membranes						membranes.
	of external genitalia, inguinal,
	and anal region. Small nodule,
	vesicle, or papule is present.

Herpes simplex
Viral infection characterized by	2 to 12 days.	HSV Type I: Direct contact	Secretion of virus in saliva
	localized primary lesion, latency,				with vitus in saliva		of has been reported for as
	and a tendency to localized				carriers. HSV Type 2:		long as 7 weeks after
	recurrence. In perhaps 10% of				Sexual contact.		recovery from stomatitis.
	primary infections overt disease						Patients with primary
	may appear as illness of varying						lesions are infective for
	severity marked by fever and						about 7 to 12 days, with
	malaise lasting 1 week or more.						recurrent disease for 4
							days to 1 week.

Lymphogranuloma venereum (lymphogranuloma inguinale, esthiomene, climatic bubo, tropical bubo)
Venerally acquired infection,	Usually 7 to 12 days, with a	Direct contact with open	Variable, from weeks to
	beginning with painless		range of 4 to 21 days to		lesions of infected persons,		years, during presence of
	evanescent erosion, papule,		primary lesion. If bubo is		usually during sexual		active lesions.
	nodule, or herpetiform lesion on		first manifestation, 10 to		intercourse.
	penis or vulva, frequently		30 days, sometimes
	unnoticed. Regional lymph nodes		several months.
	undergo suppuration followed by
	extension of inflammatory
	process to adjacent tissues.

Syphilis, veneral (lues)
Acute and chronic treponematosis	10 days to 10 weeks,	By direct contact with	Variable and indefinite
	characterized clinically by		usually 3 weeks.		infectious exudates from		during primary and
	primary lesion, secondary				obvious or concealed		secondary stages and also
	eruption involving skin and				moist early lesions of skin		in mucocutaneous
	mucous membranes, long periods				and mucous membrane,		recurrences; some cases
	of latency, and late lesions of				body fluids, and secretions		may be intermittently
	skin, bone, viscerae, and central				of infected persons during		communicable for 2 to 4
	nervous and cardiovascular				sexual contact.		years.
	systems. Papule appears 3 weeks
	after exposure at site of initial
	invasion; after erosion, most
	common form is indurated
	chancre.

Trichomoniasis
Common disease of genitourinary	4 to 20 days, average 7	By contact with vaginal and	For duration of infection.
	tract, characterized in women by		days.		urethral discharges of
	vaginitis, with small petechial or				infected persons during
	sometimes punctate hemorrhagic				sexual intercourse and
	lesions and profuse, thin, foamy,				possibly by contact with
	yellowish discharge with foul				contaminated articles.
	odor; frequently asymptomatic. In
	men, infectious agent invades and
	persists in prostate, urethra, or
	seminal vesicles, but rarely
	produces symptoms or
	demonstrable lesions.

Urethritis, chlamydial urethritis, nongonorrheal and nonspecific
Sexually transmitted urethritis of	5 to 7 days or longer.	Sexual contact.	Unknown.
	males caused by chlamydial
	agent. Clinical manifestations are
	usually indistinguishable from
	gonorrhea but are often milder
	and include opaque discharge of
	moderate or scanty quantity,
	urethral itching, and burning on
	urination. Infection of women
	results in cervicitis and
	salpingitis.