Etiology of Genital Ulcerative Disease in Conjunction with HIV Infection among Patients Attending the STD Clinic at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Genital Ulcer Diseases are defined as ulcerative, erosive, pustular or vesicular genital lesion(s), with or without regional lymphadenopathy, caused by a number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and non–STI-related conditions (PHAC, 2013). The etiology of GUD varies globally and temporally. For most young, sexually active patients with GUD, etiology is related to an STI. The annual global incidence of GUD probably exceeds 20 million cases. Four infectious agents have so far been identified as common causes of GUD namely, herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), HSV-1, which are known to cause genital herpes Treponema pallidum, which is known to cause syphilis, and Haemophilus ducreyi, which causes chancroid (Mertz et al., 1998; Orle et al., 1996; Bruisten et al., 2001; Risbud et al., 1998). In addition, the GUD has been recognized as an epidemiologic and biologic risk factor for the transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (Moodley et al., 2002; Malima et al., 2008).