Jerse (Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, USA); Christine Johnston (University of Washington, USA); Nicola Low (University of Bern, Switzerland); David Mabey (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK); Noni MacDonald (Dalhousie University, Canada); Fred Mhalu (Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Tanzania); André Meheus (University of Antwerpen, Belgium); Lori Newman (World Health Organization, Switzerland); Jacques Ravel (University of Maryland

School of Medicine, USA); Helen Rees, Consultation PR-171 cell line Chairperson (Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa); Anne M. Rompalo (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA); Kenneth L. Rosenthal (McMaster University, Canada);

Susan Rosenthal (Columbia Dactolisib datasheet University Medical Center, USA); Michael W. Russell (University of Buffalo, USA); Robin Shattock (Imperial College London, UK); Lawrence Stanberry (Columbia University Medical Center, USA); Yot Teerawattananon (Department of Health Ministry of Public Health, Thailand); Peter Timms (Queensland University of Technology, Australia); Daisy Vanrompay (Ghent University, Belgium); Andrea Vicari (World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization, Costa Rica); Teodora Wi (World Health Organization, Switzerland). Special thanks

to Gail Bolan, Nicola Low, Anne M. Rompalo, and Lawrence Stanberry for serving as working group chairs during the Technical Consultation, and to the authors of the papers included in this special issue of Vaccine. “
“The name herpes comes from the Greek meaning to ‘Creep and Crawl’, and centuries later Shakespeare referred to herpes as the ‘blister plague’. In the Middle Ages syphilis was treated with Mercury, leading to the expression that “a night in the arms of Venus means a lifetime spent secondly on Mercury”. In the 19th century the symptoms of gonorrhoea were treated with silver nitrate and, early in the 20th century, syphilis with arsenicals. These were replaced by antibiotics that were so powerful that it was anticipated that the fight against syphilis, as well as against chlamydia, gonorrhoea and trichomoniasis was finally won. In the 21st century, resistance of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to all first line antimicrobials is now being encountered. Despite effective diagnostics and treatment, little progress is being made today in controlling chlamydial infection, and syphilis is again epidemic among men who have sex with men.