Venereal disease in Vietnam: clinical experience at a major military hospital

Abstract

A review of the clinical experience at a major military hospital in the Vietnam war zone revealed the full spectrum of venereal diseases. Gonorrhea averaged 292 new cases per month and single dose antibiotic treatment with penicillin was no longer possible. Non gonococcal urethritis frequently responded to treatment with tetracycline or erythromycin; however, patients with chronic urethritis required thorough urological investigation. Granuloma inguinale and lymphogranuloma venereum were surprisingly resistant to therapy with tetracycline and sulfisoxazole, but ampicillin was effective in all cases, although the mechanism of action was unknown. Chancroid was less common but always responded to sulfisoxazole therapy. Condyloma acuminata was readily treated with 25 per cent podophyllin in benzoin, excision, and/or fulguration. Molluscum contagiosum was treated simply by currettage. No specific therapy was available for herpes progenitalis and lesions tended to recur at variable intervals. Syphylitic chancre rarely occurred, probably because of the large doses of penicillin used to treat gonorrheal urethritis.