Médecine de la Reproduction
MENUCurrent aspects of genital infections in male patients Volume 17, issue 1, Janvier-Février-Mars 2015
- Key words: sexually transmitted infections, urethritis, anitis, syphilis, genital herpes, prostatitis
- DOI : 10.1684/mte.2015.0545
- Page(s) : 9-14
- Published in: 2015
Male genital infections are mostly due to sexually transmitted diseases (STI). Worldwide, the incidence of these infections steadily increases since 1990s. In France, an increase as high as 63.8% of cases of gonococcal infections and 29.3% of recent syphilis has been observed in the last two years. STI in male patients show a wide range of clinical presentations: urethritis, anitis, ano-genital lesions with, sometimes, atypical symptoms. This clinical variety can lead to a delayed etiological diagnosis and a delayed suitable treatment with a risk of complications (prostatitis, epidydimitis…). In addition, some microorganisms involved in STI, like Mycoplasma genitalium are not routinely screened even though this bacteria is responsible for 15 to 20% of urethritis. In case of urethritis or anitis, the prescription of a systematic treatment for all sexual partners is recommended even if this item creates of debate from a forensic point of view. At least, the increasing resistance of bacteria like Neisseria gonorrhoeae to antibiotics reduces the therapeutic choices and requires a steady updating of our prescriptions.