Control of sexually transmitted diseases: view from the United States of America.

Past sexually transmitted disease (STD) control efforts in the United States of America have generally permitted a timely response to changes in intervention technology, antibiotic resistance, public funding, and media interest. Today, however, the expansion of STD organisms and syndromes at logarithmic rates has taxed our traditional labour intensive control approaches. We describe briefly the history of STD control strategies in the United States, discuss the seven components upon which current efforts are based, and speculate about our future programme initiatives.