Chancroid

From Encyclopedia of Sex and Sexuality

Chancroid is a sexually transmitted disease causing painful genital ulcers, which are often accompanied by swelling of the lymph glands draining the ulcer. Chancroid is caused by the bacterium Haemophylus ducreyi. It usually starts as a small pimple on the penis of men or on the labia, cervix, or walls of the vagina in women. Fever is usually present, and walking upright may be difficult if the groin lymph nodes are greatly swollen and have formed a tense pocket of pus called a “bulbo.” Treatment with one of the new cephalosporin antibiotics is rapidly effective, and there is usually no residual tissue damage, although women may develop a fistula between the posterior vaginal wall and the rectum. If left untreated, rapid enlargement of a chancroid ulcer can occasionally result in amputation of the penis.