Bacterial Disease
(curable with medication)

• Chancroid (pronounced SHANG-chroid), also called soft chancre, is a bacterial disease that causes genital ulcers.
• Sexual transmission of chancroid occurs through skin-to-skin contact with open sore(s).
• Symptoms of chancroid are one or more genital ulcers and painful lymph glands in the groin. The ulcer begins as a tender bump that becomes a pus-filled, open sore. It is soft (unlike a syphilis chancre that is hard or rubbery to touch).
• For women, the sore is usually not painful, and may not be noticed; but in men, the ulcer can be very painful.
• Chancroid can be treated with antibiotics. Successful treatment cures the infection, symptoms go away and it's no longer contagious (able to be spread to another person). It is important to take all the antibiotics from start to finish.
• If you do get chancroid, avoid touching the infected area to prevent the chance of autoinoculation (re-infecting yourself somewhere else on your body).