Sexually transmitted diseases in the age of AIDS.

Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are common illnesses in the world. There is at least one new sexually transmitted disease consultation for every 100 persons a year in industrialised countries. Today the World Health Organisation estimates that there are 250 million new cases of STD every year world-wide, and over 20 distinct pathogens are currently recognised. While the overall incidence of STD have remained high in industrialised countries, the rates of increase of many bacterial STD such as syphilis and gonorrhoea were beginning to stabilise; but currently there is again a trend for these bacterial STD to rise in urban populations.