An epidemiological study of sexually transmitted diseases.

A retrospective data analysis of one thousand STD patients from 1994 to 1998 at Medical College, Trivandrum was carried out. Males constituted 61.1% and females 38.9% in the study. Most of the STD patients were married (68%). In this group, 44.9% of males and 15% of females had extra marital contact (EMC). Of the 155 male married patients who had EMC, 128 (82%) had history of pre marital contact (PMC) as well. Commercial sex workers (CSWs) were the partners for most of the patients for EMC and PMC. The commonest STD was syphilis, both in men and women followed by herpes genitalis and condylomata acuminata. Latent syphilis was the most common type (54%) followed by sec- ondary. The prevalence of herpes genitalis and condylomata acuminata showed an increase with a def i-nite decline in the prevalence of gonorrhoea. HIV was detected in 3.2% of the patients.