This Rare STD Can Make Genitals 'Rot Away'

Doctors in the UK are warning about a rising number of cases of a sexually transmitted disease that can cause genitals to "rot away." Donovanosis, caused by the bacterium Klebsiella granulomatis and spread through unprotected sex or other skin-to-skin contact, doesn't eat the skin but is often described as "flesh-eating" due to the appearance of red and sometimes bloody sores on the genitals and anus that, if left untreated, can progressively damage body tissue, per the Washington Post. Cases usually pop up in tropical areas, including India, Papua New Guinea, Australia, the Caribbean, and southern Africa, per USA Today. But cases have also been appearing in the UK and US in recent years.

Some 19 cases were reported in the UK in 2016. That increased to 30 cases in 2019, followed by 18 cases in 2020, per the Post. Though the infection was eradicated in the US in the 1950s and '60s, about 100 cases are now reported in this country each year, most in people who've spent time in areas where the disease is common, according to the National Library of Medicine. But Dr. Melinda Pettigrew of the Yale School of Public Health tells USA Today that cases could "theoretically" increase in the US as risk factors for unprotected sex are on the rise. "The worst thing we can do is shame people," she adds. "Then they don't talk to their partners, they don't get diagnosed, and they don't get treated."

Donovanosis, which is a risk factor for the transmission of HIV, is treated with antibiotics. The CDC notes a relapse is possible six to 18 months following treatment. But without treatment, "extragenital infection can occur with infection extension to the pelvis, or it can disseminate to intra-abdominal organs, bones, or the mouth." A pharmacist told the Liverpool Echo in 2018 that even a delay in treatment "could cause the flesh around the genitals to literally rot away." Luckily, donovanosis cases represented just .004% of the 2,554,908 STD cases reported in the US in 2019. More than 1.8 million (72%) of those were chlamydia, and some 616,392 (24%) were gonorrhea, per USA Today. (More sexually transmitted infections stories.)