Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction To Diagnose Lymphogranuloma Venereum

To the Editor: An outbreak of rectal lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) has been detected in the Netherlands among men who have sex with men (1-4).More cases of LGV in other European countries such as Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom have been reported, and the first cases have been detected in the United States as well.This infection is encountered not only by clinicians who treat sexually transmitted diseases but also by gastroenterologists.Both the European Surveillance of Sexually Transmitted Infections (http://www.essti.org)and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov) are working on outbreak warning and response systems to increase the awareness and the direct management of the LGV outbreak (5,6).