Venereal disease: what should the family doctor look for?

Venereal diseases, or sexually transmitted diseases as they are more aptly named, are emerging as a major medical problem. Although syphilis and gonorrhoea are the traditional venereal diseases, it is now widely accepted that sexual transmission occurs, at least to some degree, in a wide range of relatively common infective disorders. For the family physician coping with this group of diseases, there are a number of problems which include diagnostic difficulties, adequate supervision of treatment and general care and confidentiality within the family situation.