Gonorrhea

What is Gonorrhea?

Gonorrhea is a curable Bacterial Infection caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a bacterium that can grow and multiply easily in the warm, moist areas of the reproductive tract.

How is it transmitted?  

Gonorrhea is transmitted through vaginal, anal, and oral sex. Ejaculation does not have to occur for gonorrhea to be transmitted.

What are the symptoms and how early can the symptoms appear?

Many people with Gonorrhea have no symptoms. Men may notice symptoms such as a burning sensation when urinating, or a white, yellow, or green discharge from the penis, and painful or swollen testicles. Women may notice a painful or burning sensation when urinating, increased vaginal discharge, or vaginal bleeding between periods. Symptoms can appear two to five days and can also take up to thirty days after sex.

How common is Gonorrhea?    

Gonorrhea is a very common infection. It is estimated that 700,000 persons become infected each year.

What treatment is offered?   

There are several antibiotics can successfully cure gonorrhea in adolescents and adults.

Other important facts:   

•Gonorrhea can also be spread from mother to baby during delivery.

•If not treated women can develop pelvic inflammatory disease(PID)

Chlamydia

What is Chlamydia?   

Chlamydia is a curable bacterial infection caused by the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis.

How is it transmitted?    

It spreads from person to person during vaginal, anal, and oral sex.

What are the symptoms and how early can the symptoms appear?

Many people have no symptoms at all. Women may notice discharge from the vagina, burning or pain when urinating, urinating more often, bleeding between periods or after sex, and cramps or pain in lower abdomen, sometimes with fever or nausea. Men may notice watery, white drip from their penis, or stained underwear, burning or pain when urinating, urinating more often, and swollen tender testicles. Symptoms may appear one to four weeks after having sex.

Other important facts:

•Women can have Chlamydia on their ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, cervix, and urethra.

•Men can have Chlamydia in their urethra and testicles.

•Each year more than 2.8 million people in the United States get Chlamydia.

•If left untreated Chlamydia can lead to complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease(PID) and potentially, infertility.

Genital Herpes

What is Herpes?

Herpes is a viral infection that is caused by the herpes simplex viruses type 1 (HSV-1) or type 2 (HSV-2). Most genital herpes is caused by HSV-2. Herpes cannot be cured.

How is Herpes transmitted?

Herpes can spread by skin-to-skin contact during vaginal sex, anal sex, oral sex, or by genital touching.

What are the symptoms and how early can the symptoms appear?

Many people get herpes and don’t know it. Others get small, sometimes painful sores on the mouth or genitals. Sores can occur 2 to 30 days after exposure. The sores can also be recurrent even if the person takes medication. People may notice a tingling or itching in the area just before a sore appears

How common is Herpes?

At least 45 million people ages 12 and older, or one out of five adolescents and adults, have had genital HSV infection

What treatment is offered?

Your doctor can prescribe medicine that can shorten and prevent outbreaks for a period of time. There is no treatment that cures herpes.

HPV

What is HPV?

HPV(human papillomavirus) is a viral disease  with over 100 different types of viruses.

How is HPV transmitted?

HPV is transmitted through vaginal sex, anal sex, oral sex, and even genital touching. HPV is easy to transmit because it lives in the skin and is found on skin surfaces.

What are the symptoms and how early can the symptoms appear?

Many people have no symptoms. Others people with HPV get genital warts. These are small, flat or round bumps on, around or inside the sex organs of both men and women. HPV can cause cell changes in the cervix, penis, or anus. Sometimes these cell changes lead to cancer.

How common is HPV?

Experts believe that over 50% of people who have had sex have had HPV. The CDC found a quarter of women the ages of 15-19 and 45% of ages 20-24 have had HPV during 2003-2004.

What treatment is offered?

A vaccine is given for women to protect against most types of HPV that cause cervical cancer and genital warts. Getting tested can determine if your cells in your cervix are abnormal or normal. If the test shows that you have abnormal cells than the doctor can treat the virus using different techniques. A coloscopy (a magnifying instrument) can be used to look more closely at the vagina. Doctors can also perform a cryotherapy(freezing) on the cervix and eventually new cells will grow in replace of the old cells that shed during the cryotherapy.

HIV/AIDS

What is HIV/ AIDS?

AIDS is a viral disease that stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS is caused by a virus called the Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV). HIV is not the same thing as AIDS.

How is HIV transmitted?

HIV is transmitted through oral sex, vaginal sex, anal sex, breast milk, and direct contact with infected blood. HIV is very difficult to transmit. HIV is transmitted from one person to another when one of these bodily fluids are shared. Medication can be given to a women in labor to reduce the chances of transmission between mother and infant.

What are the symptoms and how early can the symptoms appear?

It can take several years for enough damage to be done to a persons immune system to produce symptoms. Illnesses such as tuberculosis and other uncommon infections appear. In these cases the disease can be persistent and cause death.

How common is HIV/AIDS?

The first case of AIDS was reported in 1981. Today, there are a estimated 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS.

What treatment is offered?

There is no cure for HIV/AIDS. There are treatments that slow the reproduction of the virus and the progression of HIV disease.

Syphilis

What is Syphilis?

Syphilis is a bacterial disease caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum.

How is Syphilis transmitted?

Syphilis is transmitted through vaginal, anal, and oral sex. Syphilis is passed from person to person through direct contact of a Syphilis sore. Syphilis sores can occur on the genitals, vagina, anus, lips, and mouth.

What are the symptoms and how early can they appear?

Syphilis is very hard to recognize because many people with the disease do not have symptoms for years. There are three stages to Syphilis. The first stage is the primary stage which is usually just a single sore called a chancre. The second stage is called the secondary stage which contain skin rashes and mucous membrane lesions which usually does not contain itching. The rashes are marked my rough, red, or reddish brown spots on the bottom of the feet and in the palm of the hands. The late and latent stages is the third stage of Syphilis. The late and latent stages can be severe enough to damage the internal organs. Symptoms of the late and latent stages are difficulty coordinating muscle movements, paralysis, numbness, and blindness. If left untreated it can lead to death.

How common is Syphilis?

In 2006 there were over 36,000 cases of Syphilis reported, including 9,756 cases of primary and secondary Syphilis.

What treatment is offered?

If a person has been infected with Syphilis for less than a year that the infection can be easy to cure. A doctor can give the infected person a dose of penicillin that will cure the infection. If a person has had Syphilis for longer than a year than they will have to undergo additional doses. If someone is allergic to pencillin there are other medications that can treat Syphilis.

Other important facts:

•  Pregnant women can pass it to their babies.

Ending Note

Visiting your doctor once a year to get tested for STI’s is always a good decision because if something is wrong, you have a better chance of treating it if you learn about it sooner than later.

Works Cited

Chlamydia. ETR Associates, 2006.

Herpes. ETR Associates, 2006.

HIV Infection and AIDS. Baltimore,MD: American College Health Asociation, 2001.

HPV & Cervical Cancer. ETR Associates, 2006.

Learn about STDs/STIs. 1999-2009. 21 July 2009 <http://www.ashastd.org/learn/learn_gonorrhea.cfm>.

"STD Facts - Gonorrhea." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dec. 2007. 21 July 2009 <http://www.cdc.gov/std/gonorrhea/stdfact-gonorrhea.htm>.