[The effect of the AIDS campaign on case numbers of male urethritis]

In an attempt to investigate the influence of the AIDS campaign on the number of cases of STD in Japan, the case numbers of both gonococcal and chlamydial urethritis diagnosed in Japanese Red Cross Medical Center (JRMC) from 1980 to 1992 were surveyed. The case number of gonococcal urethritis (GU) in JRMC increased from 1980 to 1984 reaching a peak case number of 300% of 1980. Since 1984 the number of cases decreased until 1989 returning to the same case number of 1980. After a slight increase in 1990 and 1991 the case number decreased to 20% of the peak number of cases of 1984. The above trend in case numbers for GU in JRMC is similar to national statistics. The increase seen up to 1984 is thought to be similar to the increase recorded in the 1970's in developed countries. The decrease after 1984 is assumed to be due to the AIDS campaign. No remarkable change was observed in the case numbers for chlamydial urethritis (CTU) in JRMC in the same period. The results suggest that the AIDS campaign had less effect on the case numbers for CTU than that of GU, because the source of CTU infection is not limited to partners defined as hypothetically risky under the AIDS campaign. Though the sites and the route of infection are identical with gonococcal infection, the symptoms of CTU are much less fewer and less severer than that of GU, and chlamydia genital infection has already spread into every social class in Japan. The proportion of the GU that was due to gonococcal urethritis infection from the female pharynx to whole case number of gonococcal urethritis increased. This may reflect ignorance concerning the role of the pharynx as an infectious sources of gonococcal urethritis.