Immunoallergologic Aspects of Chancroid

Abstract

Chancroid is an acute, localized, auto-inoculable, sexually transmitted disease caused by Haemophilus ducrey and characterized clinically by painful necrotic ulcerations at the site of the infection. The ulcers generally heal spontaneously, sometimes, however, they erode deeply into theltissues. The genital lesions frequently are accompanied by an inflammatory swelling and suppuration of the regional lymph nodes. After the introduction of sulphonamides and antibiotics the disease had practically disappeared from developed countries. In the rest of the world, especially in tropical countries, it is still endemic. There is a close association between chancroid, poverty and poor standards of hygiene. Under abnormal conditions, such as war, chancroid tends to increase. In white American troops in Korea chancroid was fourteen times as common as syphilis [1]. Like many other venereal diseases, chancroid is a disease of towns.