Case 4: STDs and HIV Transmission

You answered:

	Treatment of common sexually transmitted infections that cause cervicitis, including chlamydia and trichomoniasis, in HIV-infected women has not been shown to decrease genital shedding of HIV.

This answer is incorrect. The treatment of cervicitis caused by common STDs in HIV-infected women significantly reduces their genital HIV viral load.

	The presence of genital lesions caused by HSV in an HIV-infected person confers a major increase (up to 4-fold) in the risk of HIV transmission to a HIV-negative partner.
	If this patient’s HIV-negative sexual partner has a history of genital herpes, her current HSV infection would not place him at increased risk of acquiring HIV.
	Among sexually transmitted pathogens, only those organisms that cause genital ulcer disease are associated with an increased risk of HIV transmission.