HEALTH: Lymphogranuloma Venereum (LGV)

Let's learn this evening, shall we?

Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) is a sexually transmitted disease that is found in less than 600 cases in the United States every year. Why is it concerning then? Well, because a few years ago -- as recently as perhaps 2006 -- there were less than 80 cases in the United States. And, more fun, it is being found primarily in men who have sex with men ... all thanks to a little uptick in the Netherlands around that same time. Until recently, it had been found primarily in the heavily gay populated areas of the US -- you know, New York, LA, SF, etc. Well, apparently, it's in Cincinnati, too.

It's a nasty little form of chlamydia that causes abcesses in the groin, rectal, or oral areas. Yummy. Doctors may not even know what they are looking at, although treatment is nothing atypical for people with abcesses and a bacterial infection, so it's not difficult to deal with.

From this article:

Officials are concerned because the disease, like many other sexually transmitted diseases, can accelerate the spread of HIV infections and perhaps enhance replication of HIV in people who are co-infected. Lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV, is caused by three strains of the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis – strains that are different from those that cause regular chlamydia infections or eye diseases.

Symptoms include bleeding, inflammation of the rectum and colon, and abdominal cramping. Infection can be fatal if left untreated.

It can be cured with antibiotics such as doxycycline, but three weeks of treatment are required – substantially longer than what is required for common genital chlamydia.

The disease is most prevalent in parts of Asia, Africa and South America along the equator, but it made an unexpected appearance in Europe in 2004. The Netherlands, which normally had seen four or five cases per year, suddenly began to see two cases per week; other European countries reported similar experiences.

Since then, LGV has shown up in the United States and Canada, generally in cities with a high prevalence of other sexually transmitted diseases.

There is also some hints that there is a connection between LGV and HIV transmission.

The CDC has begun the LGV Project to start tracking it.

And here is its entry on eMedicine, which cites homosexual men as one of the groups that are of interest.