The Region : Rare VD on the Increase in Long Beach

Health authorities said an outbreak of a rare venereal disease known as chancroid is sweeping Long Beach and contributing to a soaring venereal disease rate that has doubled in the past year. Dr. Robert Clough of the Long Beach Health Department’s Sexually Transmitted Disease Division, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram that chancroid, a bacterial disease common to prostitutes in Africa but rarely seen in the United States, is on the upswing in that city, where there were 182 reported cases from February to April this year--more than twice the total of 72 reported in the same period last year.