title: Conquering sexually transmitted diseases.
abstract: Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are a major public-health problem and also a significant financial burden on the economy. Past and ongoing attempts to create vaccines against sexually transmitted pathogens have met with varying success. This article highlights some of the public-health and social problems that are associated with STDs and the technical and ethical challenges in treating them, and raises several questions that need to be addressed if STDs are to be conquered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. starnbach@hms.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Michael N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Starnbach
authors.forename: Nadia R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Roan
mesh_terms: D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D011634:Public Health / Q000941:ethics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*