LGV spreading throughout Western Europe, 2 cases in New York

The first case of the previously rare sexually transmitted infection, LGV (lymphogranuloma venereum) has been confirmed in Barcelona, Spain, according the latest edition of Eurosurveillance Weekly. This brings the total number of European countries now affected to six; The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Last December, a bisexual man from Colombia who had lived in Barcelona for three months was found to be positive for Chlamydia trachomatis, the bacterium that causes LGV. Although his Dutch boyfriend was not actually diagnosed with LGV, he was also reported to be unwell. Three months earlier, LGV was suspected, but not confirmed, in a gay man who had previously had a sex partner diagnosed with LGV in Amsterdam.

LGV was first identified in 2003 in a cluster of over 30 gay men in the Netherlands. Many of these men reported sex tourism to European cities, including Hamburg, Germany where four cases of LGV were confirmed in 2003, with more suspected.

By mid-2004, outbreaks of LGV in gay men in Belgium (27 cases) and France (38 cases) were reported. In Belgium, over 90% of the men with LGV were also HIV-positive. Last week, aidsmap reported that 24 cases of LGV have been diagnosed in England since October 2004. Detailed information was available on 19 of the cases, and 17 of the men were also HIV-positive.

Last month, France became the third country to launch an enhanced surveillance programme for LGV, after The Netherlands in April 2004 and the UK in October 2004.

On Thursday the New York City Department of Health announced that two cases had been identified in men in New York City, adding to three cases in San Francisco and one case in Atlanta already diagnosed in the United States. The New York Health Department has not provided further details about the cases, except to say that they appear unrelated.