Sexually Transmitted Diseases
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Sexually Transmitted Diseases
HIV / AIDs
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a viral disease that affects humans and destroys the immune system. With the immune system down, the body’s ability to defend itself from infections and diseases is greatly weakened.
AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV. A healthy person infected is unaffected, but infection to those with weak immune systems can be fatal.
The cure for AIDS has not yet been discovered. Fortunately, new drugs which can prolong the life span and improve the quality of life of infected people are now available.
Just because you’re infected with HIV does not mean that you have AIDS. Some people who are infected with HIV may not develop any of the illnesses that define the full-blown disease of AIDS. The term AIDS is used by physicians for cases in which a person has reached the final, life-threatening stage of HIV infection.
It was in 1981 that AIDS was first identified among homosexual men and intravenous drug users in New York and California. Soon, AIDS epidemics grew even among heterosexual men, women, and children in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS quickly became a worldwide epidemic, affecting almost every nation.
The United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 40 million people were living with HIV infection or AIDS in 2003. The WHO estimated that 20 million people died because of AIDS between 1981 and 2002.
How does this terrible illness spread? First is by having sexual intercourse with an infected person. This is the most common mode of transmission and it includes genital, anal, and oral sex. The virus is in the infected person’s semen or vaginal fluids.
Contact with contaminated blood is also a cause. Direct contact with HIV-infected blood happens when heroin or other injected drugs are shared in hypodermic needles or syringes. Health professionals who accidentally stick themselves with needles containing HIV-infected blood or expose an open cut to such are lesser. Some cases of transmission from blood transfusions, blood components, and organ donations were also reported.
Finally, 90 percent of AIDS cases among children happen through mother-to-child transmission. This can be during child-bearing and often, during birth and breastfeeding.
Symptoms during the first weeks include symptoms like that of flu, such as fever, sore throat, headache, skin rash, tender lymph nodes, and a feeling of discomfort. Then a symptom-free period follows, which can last up to 10 years.
When the infection has reduced the number of CD4 cells to around 200 per microliter of blood, the infected individual enters a phase in which he may experience extensive weight loss and fatigue (wasting syndrome). Periodic fever, recurring diarrhea, and thrush, a fungal mouth infection, are also common. Usually, the virus is only discovered at this stage. Various illnesses, such as pneumonia, fungal infections, tuberculosis, and even cancers can then strike the victim.
While there is no medical cure yet, in the short time since the disease was first recognized, new methods to treat AIDS have appeared quickly. Health-care professionals focus on three aspects for people with HIV infection or AIDS. First and most significant is antiretroviral therapy, which uses drugs to control HIV replication. Next are medications and treatments which fight the infections and cancers that can accompany HIV infection. Finally, support mechanisms which help in dealing with the consequences of this potentially fatal disease.
Herpes
Is the skin around your “private parts” red and sensitive? Do blisters appear? Is it painful or itchy? Burning or tingling? Uh-oh. You might have herpes.
You are not alone. Estimates are as high as 20 percent of Americans are infected with genital herpes. And guess what? The majority of them are unaware that they have it. Studies reveal that more than 500,000 Americans are diagnosed with genital herpes every year, and it is increasingly occurring in teens.
Herpes comes from the Greek word “herpein”, which means “to creep”. It refers to a group of viruses that produce painful sores and blisters. There are two kinds: herpes simplex and herpes zoster. The former causes cold sores around the mouth and around the sexual organs (genital herpes). The latter triggers chickenpox and shingles.
Genital herpes is easily spread, usually through sex, even oral sex. It can spread from one part of your body to another, such as from your genitals to your fingers, to your eyes and so on. And if you’re pregnant, be careful: it can be transmitted to your child during birth. Even if the person infected does not exhibit the symptoms, the virus can be transmitted.
If you think you have herpes, fret not. It is far from being deadly, not even dangerous. However, it is a nuisance and can result in emotional trauma. Plus, there is no cure yet.
How do you know that it’s herpes? Usually, small, painful blisters appear in the first week. They could contain clear or cloudy fluid while the area under them could be red. These quickly become open sores.
Besides tender blisters and sores around your genitals, it may hurt to pee. You can also run a fever and exhibit symptoms of flu. Most people feel much pain early after infection, while some don't have any symptoms and don’t know they're infected.
The symptoms go away and ordinarily return after some time. When a recurrence occurs, the symptoms are not as bad as they were during the first attack. If you want to avoid a recurrence, avoid being stressed, getting sick, or feeling tired. Staying under the sun and having your menstrual period can also cause a recurrence. When you feel itching, tingling, or pain in the previously infected areas, watch out.
An uninfected person has a 75% chance of contracting herpes while making love with an infected one during an outbreak. To protect your partner or yourself from being one of the millions of herpes victims, don’t have sex during outbreaks. Use condoms when you have sex, and make sure all infected areas are covered. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Chlamydia
Chlamydia is a group of bacteria which cause infectious diseases both in humans and animals. It has three species: Chlamydia trachomatis, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and Chlamydia psittaci.
The most common Chlamydia illnesses are caused by strains of the trachomatis variety. One of them causes conjunctivitis, an eye infection characterized by redness and swelling, sensitivity to light, and pus discharge. A strain of fly-borne Chlamydia trachomatis can cause trachoma, a severe type of conjunctivitis. This is more frequent in developing countries and can lead to blindness.
In the United States, Chlamydia trachomatis causes 3 million cases of sexually transmitted infections (STDs) yearly. Transmitted through sex, oral and vaginal, infection is very common among teenagers and young adults. Since symptoms are often absent, many victims do not know they are infected. Around 75 percent of women and 50 percent of men who are infected are unaware of it.
Symptoms for both men and women include a watery discharge and pain while urinating. Chlamydia also causes inflammation of the vagina, cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries of women. Vaginal discharge, fever, abdominal pain, and pain in the genital area are also reported. When untreated, it may develop into more complex conditions, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and infertility. The risk of acquiring HIV also increases. And if you’re pregnant, you can pass the infection to your baby during birth.
Scared of Chlamydia? Here are simple prevention tips: use latex or polyurethane condoms during sex and try to limit your sex partners. If you already have it, don’t worry. It can be treated with antibiotics. Since most of those infected with Chlamydia also have gonorrhea, treatment for gonorrhea is often provided too.
Hepatitis A, B, and C
When A-B-C is not easy
Most of the people all over the world have brown eyes. Some have blue; others green. And so on. But if you have yellow eyes, that’s not a chromosome. That’s Hepa.
Hepa is short for Hepatitis, a disease of the liver in which it is inflamed. Certain chemicals, autoimmune diseases, and bacterial infections can cause Hepa. But often, viruses are the culprit.
The hepatitis A virus (HAV) often exhibit symptoms of flu and jaundice. But for most people, it has no symptoms. HAV is rampant in places where the drinking water is polluted with sewage.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. HAV is the most common type of Hepa and is reported to be one of the most vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States. HAV vaccination and good hygiene habits are effective in prevention. And if you have contracted it, don’t worry. The disease tends to resolve on its own. Good news: if you were infected with HAV, you will afterwards be immune to the virus for a lifetime.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) spreads through contact with an infected person's blood, tears, saliva, semen, or any other body fluid. It is spread through unprotected sexual intercourse and the sharing of infected needles or other sharp objects that penetrate the skin.
HBV is much more complicated than HAV. It can make you feel like you have flu, or it can have no symptoms. Unlike HAV, HBV can stay active in the body for years after infection. Sometimes, it can even permanently damage the liver.
If there’s an A and a B, then there’s a C. Hepatitis C is spread by sharing or being pricked with infected drug needles, sexual intercourse with someone infected, and being born to a mother infected with Hepatitis C. Sometimes, it can be through a tattoo or body piercing which used unsterilized and dirty tools.
Like HAV and HBV, there are also vaccines for Hepatitis C. If Hepatitis C has caused your liver to stop working, you will need to get a new liver through a liver transplant.
Genital warts
Is something blocking your way to sexual gratification? Feeling a bump around you or your partner’s sexual organs? It could be genital warts.
Genital warts grow on the penis and inside or around the entrance to the vagina and anus. These are caused by a family of viruses known as human papillomavirus (HPV). Genital warts are transmitted directly through skin-to-skin contact during vaginal, anal, or oral sex with an infected person. A mother can infect her baby through birth, but this is rare.
Genital HPV infection is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) worldwide. There are as many as 6 million cases of genital warts in the United States each year.
For women, growths or bumps in and around the vagina or anus or on the cervix in females are signs. For men, the same sight is on the penis, scrotum, groin, or thigh. These could be raised or flat, single or multiple, small or large, and could be clustered together to form a cauliflower-like shape. These are usually the color of flesh and are painless.
It may take months or years before symptoms appear—if there are symptoms at all. The average incubation period is one to six months. Sometimes, the warts are so small and flat that they are ignored.
HPV can invade a woman’s vagina and cervix. The virus can lead to changes in the cervix that can cause cervical cancer, so if you feel such bumps, have them treated immediately. Men infected with HPV are not safe, either. They are at risk for cancer of the penis and the anus. But don’t be too worried—only 10 of the 30 or more genital HPV types can cause cancer.
Like most STDs, genital warts can be avoided by use of condoms, but not if the warts are outside of the area protected they cover.
A vaccine called Gardasil has been formulated for women who are 9 to 26 years old. There is no cure for HPV infection; the treatment removes only the genital warts it causes. The therapies for genital warts are prescription medications, liquid nitrogen (called cryosurgery), and laser treatment.
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