Chancroid is a sexually transmitted disease that is caused by a bacterium that determines the appearance of at least one ulcer on the genital organs. This disease is especially common in the tropical and subtropical countries, but there have been stated many cases in North America and in Europe. The incubation period of the chancroid is of maximum seven days, but there were cases in which shorter or longer periods of incubations appeared.

The bacterium that causes this disease forms a type of ulcer that can either be simple or multiple. These ulcers are causing a lot of pain. Generally speaking, men develop only one ulcer on their genitalia, while in the case of women there are at lest three ulcers in the area of their vagina. Women experience though fewer symptoms.

In the case of men, the first lesions appear on the preputial orifice, and not really on the glens penis. The chancroid is located on the forehead of the penis, on the groove situated behind the penis, on the shaft of the penis, on the head on the male genital organ, and on the scrotum. In the situation of the women, the areas that are affected are the labia, the clitoris, and the vulvae. The most affected area is the labia majora. The symptoms in the case of women involve pain during the sexual intercourse or pain while urinating. There are other symptoms that state the appearance of this type of disease. Most of the people who have been infected develop the enlargement of the inguinal lymph nodes that are situated in the area between the leg and the lower part of the abdomen. Some of these people will experience the transformation of these nodes in abscesses that will rupture thus causing the so-called buboes.

The incubation period usually appears in the first week after the bacterium was collected, but no sooner than four days. The infection appears even if you did not have a sexual intercourse with an infected person because the sores, once they are open, they can infect anyone who reaches their surface.

The ulcer that appears on the genitalia soon after the bumps appeared can have different dimensions, but it ranges from three to fifty centimeters across, it is painful, it has undetermined, blurred borders. The basis if this type of ulcer is covered with a grey substance that can easily bleed if it is scratched by accident.

A person remains infected with this bacterium for as long as there are open sores on his/her body. And because the scratching of these sores causes a lot of pain and because they are a sure way of contaminating other people too, the people who are infected should avoid any sexual contact during the period of treatment of chancroid.

Chancroid comes under other names too, such as soft chancre and venereal sore. This sexually transmitted disease has its origin in Africa, Asia, and in Latin America, but it is spread in many other regions. There are being reported about five thousands cases of chancroid every year, and it appears especially among young adults or even teenagers. You can recognize this disease if there appear some spots on your skin in the genital area. The sores that are formed are irregular in shape, they are oval or round, with margins that cannot really be determined. The disease makes its debut in a few days after the bacteria have entered the body. In that zone, the first bump is formed, and then, within a few days, the bump becomes a sore. The more advanced stages of the chancroid are represented by a painful open sore, by a purulent base of the ulcer that formed, and by lesions at the level of the ulcer.