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Sexually transmitted infections - research priorities for new challenges
More than 1 million people acquire a sexually transmitted infection (STI) each day. These infections, when not treated, take their toll in grievous outcomes—notably cancer deaths, infertility, and birth complications including stillbirth. Social stigma that limits care-seeking, causal pathogens with diverse characteristics, and commonly mild or nonexistent symptoms all contribute to the pernicious effects of STIs.
This month, PLOS Medicine features new research submitted in response to the Call for Papers for our Collection on "The Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Infections." This Collection research is varied in both topic and approach. Included studies address efficacy of an online STI testing service in the UK, prevalence of dual-strain HSV-2 infection, challenges facing health care providers managing STI care in Kenya, and market barriers to the global provision of an off-patent antibiotic used to prevent mother-to-child transmission of syphilis. Expert commentary on informed approaches to identifying the next STI, and future clinical significance of the vaginal microbiome, are featured as well. The Collection will continue in early 2018.
In the accompanying Editorial, Nicola Low of the University of Bern, Switzerland and Nathalie Broutet of the World Health Organization (WHO), Guest Editors for the Collection, highlight key advances from the month’s papers and discuss prominent challenges and priorities in the field.
Image Credit: eric molina/Flickr, NIAID/Flickr, kerryank/Pixabay
Citation: (2017) PLoS Medicine Issue Image | Vol. 14(12) December 2017. PLoS Med 14(12): ev14.i12. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pmed.v14.i12
Published: December 29, 2017
Copyright: © 2017 molina. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
More than 1 million people acquire a sexually transmitted infection (STI) each day. These infections, when not treated, take their toll in grievous outcomes—notably cancer deaths, infertility, and birth complications including stillbirth. Social stigma that limits care-seeking, causal pathogens with diverse characteristics, and commonly mild or nonexistent symptoms all contribute to the pernicious effects of STIs.
This month, PLOS Medicine features new research submitted in response to the Call for Papers for our Collection on "The Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Infections." This Collection research is varied in both topic and approach. Included studies address efficacy of an online STI testing service in the UK, prevalence of dual-strain HSV-2 infection, challenges facing health care providers managing STI care in Kenya, and market barriers to the global provision of an off-patent antibiotic used to prevent mother-to-child transmission of syphilis. Expert commentary on informed approaches to identifying the next STI, and future clinical significance of the vaginal microbiome, are featured as well. The Collection will continue in early 2018.
In the accompanying Editorial, Nicola Low of the University of Bern, Switzerland and Nathalie Broutet of the World Health Organization (WHO), Guest Editors for the Collection, highlight key advances from the month’s papers and discuss prominent challenges and priorities in the field.
Image Credit: eric molina/Flickr, NIAID/Flickr, kerryank/Pixabay