22 Sexually transmitted infections Flashcards
Why are STIs cases increasing?
Estimated 500 000 new cases per year
Asymptomatic transmission Increasing density/ mobility of humans Change in human sexual practice Absence of vaccine Difficult to treat - resistant organisms
STI cases can occur with multiple infections. For example someone with syphilis, is more likely to ahve an additional STI
Which bacteria commonly cause STIs?
Chlamydia trachomatis
Haemophilus ducreyi (mainly tropical) - chancroid
Neisseria gonorrhoea
Treponema pallidum
What are treatments for these bacterial STIs?
Chlamydia trachomatis
- D-K serotypes cause urethritis
- L serotype - lymphogranuloma venereum
Haemophilus ducreyi (mainly tropical) - chancroid
Chlamydia trachomatis -
- azithromycin 1g single dose
- doxycycline 7 days
Haemophilus ducreyi - azithromycin, ceftriaxone
What are treatments for these bacterial STIs?
Neisseria gonorrhoea
Treponema pallidum
Neisseria gonorrhoea - ceftriaxone. Quinolone resistance common
Treponema pallidum - penicillin
Which viruses commonly cause STIs?
Papillomaviruses 6, 11, 16, 18 (warts/ cervical cancer)
HSV 1/2
HIV
Hepatitis B - transmitted sexually
What are treatments for these viral STIs?
Papillomaviruses 6, 11, 16, 18
HSV 1/2
Papillomaviruses - podophyllin, cryotherapy
HSV 1/2 - aciclovir, famciclovir
What are treatments for these fungal STIs?
Candida albicans - thrush
clotrimazole. fluconazole
Only one protozoa cause STIs.
What is treatment for Trichomonas vaginalis?
Often asymptomatic, can cause cancer
Metronidazole 2g single dose or
Metronidazole 400mg BD for 7 days
What are ectoparasite causes of STIs?
Sarcoptes sacbiei
Phthirus pubis
What are treatments for these ectoparasites?
Sarcoptes sacbiei
Phthirus pubis
Permethrin cream for both
How do STIs evade host defences?
- integrity of mucosal surface
- resist phagocytosis
- integrity of mucosal surface - have specific attachment mechanism e.g gonococcus/ chlamydia
- resist phagocytosis - induce little inflammation, or have capsule e.g treponema pallidum, gonococcus
How do STIs evade host defences?
- affect complement
- evade antibodies, especially IgA
- affect complement - C3d receptor on pathogen bins C3b/d and reduces phagocytosis e.g candida
- evade antibodies, especially IgA - produce IgA protease e.g gonococcus
How do STIs evade host defences?
- cell mediated immunity
- antigenetic variation allows re-infection with different strain e.g gonococcus/ chlamydia
What disease is caused by these spirochaetes ?
Treponema pallidum pallidum Treponema pallidum pertenue Treponema carateum Borrelia burgdorferi Borrelia recurrentis
Leptospira interrogans
Treponema pallidum pallidum - syphilis Treponema pallidum pertenue - yaws Treponema carateum - pinta Borrelia burgdorferi - lyme disease Borrelia recurrentis - relapsing fever
Leptospira interrogans - leptospirosis. Although this is a spiral organism, it is a leptospiraceae as opposed to spireochaetaceae
Syphilis enters the body through minute abrasions on skin or mucus membranes, and requires close contact. Organism does not survive outside body, and is sensitive to drying, heat, disinfectants.
Horizontal spread via sex
Vertical spread via transplancental
What is average incubation time?
What is length of latent period of syphilis?
3 weeks
3-30 years
What are stages of syphilis infection?
Primary infection - primary chancre - painless ulcer which heals spontaneously after 2 months. Lymphadenopathy. Teponemas multiply at site of infection/ lymph node
Secondary syphilis - flu like illness, myalgia, headache, fever, mucocutaenous rash. Resolves spontaneously
Latent syphilis - 3-30 years. Treponemas dormant in liver or spleen.
Tertiary syphilis - reawakening and multiplication of treponemas. Neurosyphilis, tabes dorsalis (demyelination of spinal cord), cardiovascular syphilis, heart failure. Gummas in skin, bone, testis
How does newborn present with congenital syphilis?
Intrauterine death
Congenital abnormalities - various
Silent infection - facial/ tooth deformities may only be seen by 2 years of age
T pallidum cannot be grown in vitro.
How is it diagnosed?
Dark field microscopy of exudate immediately after collection
Serology
Non-specific treponemal tests are
VDRL - veneral disease research laboratory
RPR - rapid plasma reagin test
How do they work and why are they non-specific?
Antigens are non-treponemal in origin
They are from extracts of cardiolipin from beef heart tissue, which allows detection of anti-lipid IgG/IgM formed in patient in response to lipoidal material released from cells damaged by infection (in addition to lipids on surface of T. Pallidum)
Non-specific syphilis tests are positive 1-2 weeks after primary chancre appears. Useful for initial screening test
Decline in positivity in tertitary syphilis or after treatment - can be used as vague indicator of treatment response.
What can cause false positive non-specific test? VDRL/ RPR
Acute febrile disease Collagen vascular disease Drug abuse Pregnancy Malaria Yaws/ Pinta Viral infection
Specific treponemal test use recombinant proteins/ treponemal antigens extracted from T. pallidum
What are examples of these?
Specific tests remain positive life-long. Therefore cannnot be used to assess treatment response
Enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) test. Checks for syphilis antibodies IgM/ IgG
FTA-ABS - fluorescnet treponemal antibody absorption. Non-pathogenic treponemes added to blood, to remove cross-reacting antibodies, before reacting with actual host T pallidum antigens
TP-PA - based on the agglutination of coloured particle carriers sensitized with T pallidum antigen
What can cause false positive specific treponemal tests?
AI disease- SLE DM Drug misuses Lyme disease Pregnancy Viral infections
Interpretation of spyhilis tests
Nontreponemal/Treponemal \+ + \+ – – + – –
Nontreponemal tests/ Treponemal tests
+ + Syphilis, yaws or pinta
+ – False positive – No syphilis
– + Primary or latent syphilis; previously treated or untreated syphilis; yaws or pinta
– – No syphilis; incubating syphilis
Babies born to infected mothers need to be tested. How to distinguish congenital infection, from passive transfer antibodies across planeta?
Test sypihlis IgM at birth, and 6 weeks age. Maternal antibodies will wane, and if still raised indicates cognenital syphilis
What is treatment for syphilis?
Penicillin - also treats unborn baby
Doxycycline - but can’t be used pregnancy
Screen for other STIs
Contact tracing
Gonorrhoea caused by neisseria gonorrhoea. Often asymptomatic, which facilitates its transmission.
How is it transmitted?
Rquires close contact, as very sensitive to drying.
Sexual