[Sexually transmitted diseases in Limburg in 1997; prevalence according to a survey of family practitioners and specialists and according to reports from microbiological laboratories].

Objective: To determine the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and to compare data reported by general practitioners (GPs) and specialists with those reported by microbiological laboratories.

Design: Retrospective.

Method: All 593 GPs and gynaecologists, dermatologists and urologists in Limburg, the Netherlands, in 1998 were asked to fill in a questionnaire about the number of cases of Chlamydia trachomatis, condylomata acuminata, genital herpes and gonorrhoea in 1997, by sex, age and diagnostic test. Data were compared with information gathered from the six laboratories of medical microbiology. For gonorrhoea the results were compared with those from a study in 1985.

Results: The response to the enquiry amounted to 75%. A total of 2730 cases were reported (32 per 10,000 of the population. Infection with C. trachomatis was the most frequent sexually transmitted disease (46%), followed by condylomata acuminata (28%), genital herpes (17%) and gonorrhoea (8%). Of the diseases 84% occurred in persons younger than 35 years of age and 66% in women. The GPs saw 79% of the STDs, they diagnosed 'gonorrhoea' in 25% of the cases merely on the basis of the clinical picture. Compared to 1985 the number of gonorrhoea cases was decimated in Limburg in 1997. Of those who answered the questions about warning the partner (approximately 50% of those concerned), 87% reported that they had let the partner know. It appears from the data of the six laboratories that the incidence of C. trachomatis infection was 3.2 and that of gonorrhoea 0.6 per 10,000 of the population. For the diagnosis of infection with C. trachomatis the GPs and specialists use a culture in 50% of the cases, as against 2% of the laboratories, for the ligase chain reaction and polymerase chain reaction tests these proportions were 20 and 78%.