65 articles
Laryngeal papillomatosis
Laryngeal papillomatosis, or recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP), is a rare HPV 6/11-caused disease with recurrent benign airway tumors, mostly in the larynx, treated by repeated surgery, bevacizumab, and the 2025-approved immunotherapy Papzimeos.
Late congenital neurosyphilis
Late congenital neurosyphilis (juvenile neurosyphilis; ICD-10 A50.4, ICD-11 1A60.3) is nervous-system syphilis in children with congenital syphilis, appearing after age 2 with juvenile paresis, tabes dorsalis, deafness, and keratitis, treated with penicillin G.
List of HIV-positive people
List of publicly disclosed HIV-positive people: Rock Hudson, Magic Johnson, Freddie Mercury, Arthur Ashe, Charlie Sheen, Billy Porter, Edwin Cameron, Zackie Achmat; disclosure ethics, disclosure effects, treatment advances, and advocacy legacy.
Men who have sex with men
Men who have sex with men (MSM) is a behavioral public health category, coined in the early 1990s for HIV surveillance, covering men who have sex with men regardless of orientation; MSM bear 26 times higher HIV risk than the general population.
Microbicides for sexually transmitted diseases
Topical microbicides for STDs: vaginal or rectal gels and rings to prevent HIV and other STIs; dapivirine ring cuts HIV risk about 29%, tenofovir gel unconfirmed, nonoxynol-9 harmful.
Multiple sex partners
Multiple sex partners: having two or more sexual partners in a period (past year or lifetime), including concurrent overlapping partnerships. A recognized STI risk factor; US data show 39.4% of women and 48.3% of men aged 15–44 report multiple past-year partners.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Neisseria gonorrhoeae (gonococcus), Gram-negative diplococcus causing gonorrhoea; discovered by Albert Neisser 1879; obligate human pathogen with 82.4 million 2020 infections, resistance to all antibiotic classes, and no licensed vaccine.
Neurosyphilis
Neurosyphilis is central nervous system infection by Treponema pallidum, occurring at any syphilis stage. Diagnosed via CSF-VDRL, treponemal tests, cell count, and protein; treated with IV aqueous penicillin G for 10–14 days.
Non-gonococcal urethritis
Non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU), also called nonspecific urethritis, is inflammation of the male urethra without evidence of gonorrhea, a common sexually transmitted condition caused chiefly by Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium and treated with doxycycline.
Nonoxynol-9
Nonoxynol-9 (N-9), a detergent spermicide in OTC vaginal contraceptives like Conceptrol and VCF, kills sperm by disrupting membranes but failed as an HIV microbicide and is not recommended for STI prevention.
Notifiable disease
A notifiable disease, also called a reportable disease or notifiable condition, is one that must by law be reported to public health authorities when a diagnosis is made.
Papilloma
Papilloma: a benign epithelial tumor, usually exophytic; also called condyloma when HPV-caused on genitals. Covers squamous papillomas, warts, and HPV-independent forms like intraductal papilloma.
PrEP-PP study
PrEP-PP (PrEP in Pregnancy and Postpartum) is a demonstration cohort study (NCT03902418) of 1,195 pregnant women in Cape Town, South Africa, measuring PrEP initiation, continuation, adherence, and HIV incidence through 12 months postpartum.
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the United States government's global HIV/AIDS program, launched by President George W. Bush in 2003 and credited with saving 25 million lives.
Prostitution in Africa
Prostitution (sex work) in Africa: exchange of sexual services for reward, from precolonial forms through colonial regulation to today's HIV key-population policies; sex workers' HIV risk nine times higher globally, sub-Saharan new infections down 50% 2010–2022.
Rapid plasma reagin
Rapid plasma reagin (RPR), also called RPR card test, is a macroscopic nontreponemal flocculation blood test that screens for syphilis and monitors antibody titers, using charcoal-containing cardiolipin antigen read with the naked eye.
Rectal douching
Rectal douching: rinsing the rectum with water or saline before or after receptive anal intercourse, common among MSM (up to 88% ever); associated with increased odds of HIV and other STIs via mucosal injury and gut dysbiosis.
Rectal microbicide
Rectal microbicide: topical HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis applied in the rectum before receptive anal intercourse, also called rectal PrEP. Tenofovir gels and douches are in phase 1-2 trials; none is approved.
Risky sexual behavior
Risky sexual behavior, also called high-risk sexual behavior, is sexual activity raising the chance of STIs, HIV, or unintended pregnancy, including condomless sex, multiple partners, and sex while intoxicated; measured mainly by imperfect self-reports and reduced through counseling, condoms, vaccination, and PrEP.
Sexually transmitted infection
Sexually transmitted infection (STI), also called STD: infection with any of over 30 pathogens acquired through sexual contact. WHO estimated 374 million new curable STI cases in 2020; US 2024 cases fell to 2.25 million.
Sexually transmitted infections in the pornography industry
Sexually transmitted infections in the pornography industry, also called adult film industry STIs, are an occupational health issue: frequent testing systems (AIM, PASS), documented HIV outbreaks in 2004 and 2014, and California condom regulations such as Measure B.
Signs and symptoms of HIV/AIDS
Signs and symptoms of HIV/AIDS: flu-like acute illness 2–4 weeks after infection, symptom-free clinical latency lasting about a decade, then AIDS with CD4 below 200 cells/mm3 and opportunistic infections; testing is the only reliable diagnosis.
Spectinomycin
Spectinomycin (Trobicin) is an aminocyclitol antibiotic produced by the bacterium Streptomyces spectabilis, isolated in 1960 and used as a single intramuscular 2 g dose to treat gonorrhea.
Tabes dorsalis
Tabes dorsalis (locomotor ataxia) is a rare late form of neurosyphilis from Treponema pallidum, causing demyelination of spinal posterior columns, lightning pains, ataxia, and Argyll Robertson pupils decades after infection.
Timeline of HIV/AIDS
Timeline of HIV/AIDS: from the June 1981 CDC report of Pneumocystis pneumonia in Los Angeles, through the 1983-1984 discovery of HIV, the 1985 ELISA test, HAART in the mid-1990s, the Ryan White CARE Act, and today's 95-95-95 targets and 32.1 million people on treatment.
Treponema pallidum
Treponema pallidum, the syphilis spirochete (Spirochaeta pallida), an obligate human spirochete bacterium discovered in 1905; subspecies pallidum, pertenue, and endemicum cause syphilis, yaws, and bejel, distinguished by a stealth outer membrane lacking lipopolysaccharide.
Trichomonas vaginalis
Trichomonas vaginalis, a flagellated protozoan parasite, causes trichomoniasis, the most common non-viral STI worldwide; about 156 million new cases in 2020, diagnosed by NAAT, treated with metronidazole.
Trichomoniasis
Trichomoniasis, caused by the protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis, is the most common non-viral STI worldwide, with about 156 million new cases in 2020; treated with metronidazole or tinidazole, linked to HIV risk and preterm birth.
Ureaplasma parvum
Ureaplasma parvum, formerly U. urealyticum biovar 1, is a cell-wall-less human urogenital bacterium with serovars 1, 3, 6, 14, a 0.75–0.78 Mbp genome, and debated roles in preterm birth and neonatal lung disease.
Urethral discharge
Urethral discharge, also called urethral discharge syndrome, is abnormal urethral secretions, the hallmark of urethritis, usually from sexually transmitted Neisseria gonorrhoeae or Chlamydia trachomatis infection.