ABSTRACT
Skin disorders are prominent in Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and patients often present with a skin complaint. Herpes simplex infection may be a particular problem, with extensive and persistent skin involvement resulting in scarring. Depressed delayed hypersensitivity also results in failure of ‘immune surveillance’ and the development and rapid progression of many forms of skin cancer. The skin of patients with AIDS may become dry and ichthyotic looking, so that AIDS may be counted as one of the causes of ‘acquired ichthyosis’, and this is also a cause of persistent irritation. Several skin infections, although not exclusively ‘venereal’, are nonetheless spread by venereal contact. This venereal disease, which predominantly affects urethral epithelium, is caused by a delicate intracellular Gram-positive diplococcus – the gonococcus. This venereal infection is caused by the Gram-negative bacillus Haemophilus ducreyi. One to five days post-infection, a soft sloughy ulcer appears on the areas of contact on the penis or vulva.
