Cytomegalovirus proctitis: A rare sexually transmitted disease

摘要

Sexually acquired proctitis may be asymptomatic, resulting in continuing transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Beside the most common causes of sexually transmitted proctitis {Neisseria gonoirboeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, Trepoviema pallidiim, and herpes simplex virus), cytomegalovirus (CMV) is an uncommon cause of proctitis, and current STD treatment guidelines do not extensively discuss sexually transmitted CMV proctitis. In developed nations, approximately one half of the adult population is seronegative for CMV antibody. This is in marked contrast to the prevalence in underdeveloped countries of the world where more than 90% of the population is seropositive by the age of 2 years [1]. Thus, transmission is mainly due to chronic CMV infection. In developed countries, there is a large pool of uninfected adults who then acquire this virus at a slow rate of 1 % to 2% seroconversions per year [1]. These seroconversions result from close contact with virus-positive individuals. Such contact may be sexual with exchange of body fluids (saliva, semen). Lang et al. describe a relatively high CMV titer in whole semen, and persistence in semen for up to 14 months, in a patient with CMV mononucleosis [2].