Abstract

In a recent survey the incidence of pseudoelephantiasis induced by donovanosis was found to be 5%. The ratio of women to men was 3:1. The incubation period was two to 20 days, and the duration was two to 24 months. The disease was contracted through premarital or extramarital sexual intercourse. The morphological features were characterised in women by globular pedunculated verrucous surfaced swellings affecting the labia majora and the clitoris and accompanying ulceration or its aftermath (depigmentation), or both. Constitutional symptoms were absent. Intracytoplasmic Donovan bodies in the tissue or a smear from the ulcers were diagnostic. Immune markers, such as total T lymphocytes and their subsets (T4 (helper/inducer) and T8 (suppressor/cytotoxic), B lymphocytes, immunoglobulins G, A, and M, and the pivotal complement component C3 were largely inconsequential.