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To gain an impression as to the possible trends in the prevalence of VD and HIV between 1993 and 1998.Retrospective.Data of age, gender, ethnic background, sexual preference, intravenous drug use and a diagnosis of VD or HIV infection for persons attending the VD Outpatient Clinic of the Department of Dermato-Venereology of the Dijkzigt University Hospital in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for the first time were compared for the years 1993 and 1998.The number of patients examined was 3099 (1894 men and 1205 women) in 1993 and 3696 (1878 men and 1818 women) in 1998. No diagnosis of venereal disease was made in 58.9% and 56.2% of them, respectively. The prevalence of HIV infection decreased from 1.3% in 1993 to 0.6% in 1998. This was caused mainly by a decline in the prevalence of HIV-antibodies among men with homosexual contacts. In the total population, the prevalence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis decreased significantly (from 5.4% to 2.5% and from 9.3% to 7.5%, respectively), but there was no similar decrease among the men with homosexual contacts.

To inventory the changes in leprosy epidemiology in the Netherlands.Retrospective.Academic Medical Centre (Amsterdam) and University Hospital Dijkzigt (Rotterdam), the Netherlands.The medical records of all new leprosy patients in the period 1970-1991 were analysed.Between 1970 and 1991, 622 new leprosy patients were registered; 371 men (59.6%) and 251 women (40.4%). Most patients came from Surinam (73.3%) and Indonesia (7.2%). The mean time lapse between onset and treatment in the Netherlands was 10.1 years. Switching from monotherapy to combination therapy (1979) had no effect on the incidence of reversal reactions (cellular hypersensitivity in immunologically unstable patients), but did affect the incidence of erythema nodosum leprosum during the treatment.Leprosy in the Netherlands is an important disease, mainly from Surinam. The main advantage of combination therapy is the shortened duration of treatment. The treatment of choice is the one recommended by the WHO, the combination therapy with rifampicin administration once a month, because of the few adverse effects.