Sexually Transmitted Diseases - information

TSR Wiki > Life > Health and Relationships > General Health > Sexual Health > Sexually Transmitted Infections - information

Honestly, how many of you have had unprotected sex without a condom and how many of you have ever had an STI test? According to a survey carried out by the Chlamydia. Worth Talking About campaign, nine in ten people don’t get tested for STIs before getting into a new relationship and two thirds don’t use a condom when they have sex with a new partner for the first time. There are some really easy ways to avoid the stress and worry that unprotected sex can cause.

Why is this so important? Well for starters, chlamydia is the most commonly diagnosed STI among the under-25s, affecting both men and women. If left untreated, it can lead to serious health problems, and so if sex IS part of your relationship, or it’s going to be, you need to talk to your partner about how you’re going to keep yourself safe.

These conversations may seem daunting, but three quarters of 15-24 year olds actually rank discussing STI tests together as the most important indicator of a lasting relationship. A staggering 70 per cent felt that it is the most important sign that a new relationship will last – rather than more traditional milestones such as meeting the parents!

So how do you have these chats with your partner without causing embarrassment? Dr Catherine Hood, GP and relationship expert, has got some great tips for talking about STI testing.

1. Make the first move Firstly, don’t be afraid to make the first move. Think about it as the natural next step in your relationship and not something to be feared and avoided. Choose a quiet moment – you could begin the conversation by saying something like: “As we’ve been seeing each other for a while now, there’s something I really want to talk about...”

2. Go together Suggest that you both go and get tested for STIs together and treat it as a positive step in your relationship. Share your own experiences, of being tested and treated if you feel you can – it’s important that you’re as open and honest as you can be.

3. Arm yourself with the facts If your partner asks you why you’re worried about STIs, make sure you are able to tell them how common STIs are, and how some can lead to serious health problems for both of you.

4. Remember testing is easy and painless If your partner is anxious about STI testing, reassure them that there really is nothing to worry about… For example for Chlamydia, in men, the test is always a urine sample (pee in the pot). The Chlamydia test for women can be either a urine sample or a self taken swab of the lower vagina.

Below is basic information on some of the better known STIs. Everyone who is under 25 and sexually active should get tested at least once a year, and every time they have a new partner. Take control, don’t put if off, and remember that condoms are the best way to protect against STIs. For information on STIs, chlamydia testing, contraception and all information about sexual health, visit www.nhs.uk/worthtalkingabout

Chlamydia

The facts: Chlamydia is caused by a bacterium called chlamydia trachomatis. The bacteria are found in the semen of men and vaginal fluids of women who have the infection. Chlamydia is easily passed from one person to another through unprotected sex. You can also catch it from oral or anal sex. It is the most common STI in the UK, being most common in men and women under 25.

Symptoms: Chlamydia is known as the ‘silent’ infection due to its lack of noticeable symptoms. Seventy five per cent of women and 50 per cent of men with chlamydia have no symptoms and so the best way to find out if you have it is to take a test.

Treatment: If left untreated, chlamydia can lead to infertility, long term pelvic pain and other serious health problems. Because chlamydia often doesn’t have any symptoms, testing is now being routinely offered to all sexually active under 25 year olds in a range of primary care health services across England. This includes many GP surgeries, community and sexual health clinics and some community pharmacies – so if you’re offered a test, it’s important to say ‘yes’! Testing is confidential, easy and painless and chlamydia itself is easy to treat. For men, the test is always a urine sample (pee in the pot). In many areas the test for women can be either a urine sample or a self-taken swab. The swab is done yourself in private – quick, simple and painless.

Gonorrhoea

It’s as fun as it sounds. (:

Causes: It’s caused by bacteria, and it can get you in the mouth, penis, rectum, vagina or urethra. Generally a result of unprotected sex. Your fingers can transmit it, though.

Symptoms: Women generally get a nasty yellow/green and kind of watery discharge, and the obligatory pee-pain. Men can also get the same discharge and pain. Perhaps the grossest of all; anal itching and discharge is possible. I guess it’s the really really unlucky ones are those that get no symptoms at all and carry on having sex without knowing, and therefore passing it on.

Treatment: There is a risk of reduced fertility [ladies, that’s P.I.D again], if you’re not treated. You’ll be warned off sex until you’ve got the all clear. Once again, all partners should be notified.

Herpes

Causes: You get cold sores? That’s herpex simplex type I. The herpes I mean is a virus called simplex type II. You can get type I infections in the genital region though – so it’s best not to get friendly if your partner has a cold sore eruption. It’s also transmitted sexually, obviously.

Symptoms: Basically, painful cold sores/ulcerations around your nether regions. They flare up, and seem to disappear, but once you have the virus, you are never rid of it that’s why if you already have it, it’s important to be responsible during your flare-ups. Other symptoms, that are not necessarily always present, are aching, gland swelling, tiredness and flu-like symptoms, itching/tingling around the genitals, and blisters that burst to form sores.

Treatment: There is not a cure per-se. There are antivirals that can slightly calm your flare-ups, but the best thing you can do is prevent it with a condom. Pregnant women with herpes can give their children potentially fatal infections through having the virus. It’s not worth risking.

Syphilis

Now, the sad thing with this is that it was well on the way to being eradicated in the UK. Then, it shot back up.

Causes: The bacterium's called treponema pallidum. Remember “the pox” from history textbooks? This is it. It’s transmitted through close contact. That’s oral/anal/vaginal sex, or even touching the sores of someone who’s infected. Also mother-child transmission is wholly possible.

Symptoms: There are four stages to this nasty: Basically, symptoms can take 2-6 weeks to appear, Primary: small sores appear where the bacteria got in [so that’d be the genital area, for example. Sometimes they’re not even visible; they’re on the inside. Secondary a skin rash can appear. It’s wicked infectious can hold brown sores, and spread from your palms to your soles. That, and there’s headaches, fever, gland swelling, wart-like growths, hairloss… this can last about a year. Latent no symptoms. Tertiary/Late If the first bits didn’t put you off, this might. It can damage your brain, joints, bones, eyes, heart or nerves, leaving your paralysed, mentally ill, blind, and with heart disease. Oh yeah, and it can kill you.

Treatment: Mainly blood tests for diagnosis. This, like others, can be treated effectively with some antibiotics. It’d seem pointless to ignore it and let it worsen. Again, lets partners know of your infection. Now, as far as I’m concerned right now, they’re the biggies. The ones to watch out for because most could be so easily treated or better still avoided if people just became a little more sensible and self aware. Piffling doses of antibiotics early on, could stop you dying or killing your baby. And yes, it is that simple. Book an appointment.

HIV

HIV, as I know you’ll all be well aware, doesn’t go away. And gradually, it will wear you down to a point at which your immune system gives way to AIDS defining illnesses. I know you’ve heard the spiel a million times. So why is it that so many of us are still members of the “promiscuous ten per-cent” or the group that operate the “don’t ask, don’t test, don’t tell” policy. HIV doesn’t just happen in Africa, it’s happening right on our doorstep:

Causes: Needle sharing, mother-child etc, but here, let’s concentrate on unprotected sex. We’re all at risk, gay or hetero. Yes, gay men are at greater risk; not because they’re dirty, but simply because the sexual method is more likely to give way to tearing of tissue, and therefore entry to the bloodstream. There seems to be a group that think heterosexual people are immune; they’re not, and their infection numbers are rising alarmingly. Unless both parties have sores/bleeding mouths, it’s safe to assume no transmission will occur unless you drank like, a bucketful of saliva.

Symptoms: Most don’t prevent any symptoms aside from a slight “flueyness” after infection. Basically, it’s just your immune system beginning to suffer. Once compromised, you’re more susceptive to “opportunistic” infections that will start to make you feel ill. Cancers are also more likely to appear once HIV has weakened your immune system. It is when these secondary illnesses have taken hold, as well as the knowledge that the immune system is inefficient, that AIDS is thought to have developed.

Treatment:Any treatment, can at best, slow the HIV progression. The best treatment by far is prevention and awareness. Tests are done through blood tests for HIV antibodies. Here are a few that I didn’t put on the biggie list, but it doesn’t make them any less dangerous; I just looked at the figures for young people, and worked off of that.

Crabs

I don’t know about you, but these things put the fear of god in me. Pubic lice/scabies/itch mites/crabs, whatever you want to call them, they’ll still bite you in the ass.

Causes: Whilst scabies and pubic lice are slightly different, their cause is pretty much the same; sex with infected people/transmission through bedlinen/clothes/towels.

Symptoms: Itching, mainly. They burrow in the hairy regions under your skin, and bite the living daylights out of you. They lurve the groin area. They lay eggs under the skin, and they take about 6-8 days to hatch. [yum] Sometimes you can see the little brown insects, or in the case of scabies, a rash.

Treatment:All clothes/linen should be washed accordingly, as well as ointment being obtained from the docs to apply. No close contact until the all clear.

Hepatitis

There are three forms; A, B and C, each having relatively similar symptoms: Fluey symptoms, nausea, diarrhoea, poor appetite, weight loss, jaundice, itchy skin. All forms are very damaging when left untreated, especially to the liver. They’re transmitted through needle sharing and obviously, unprotected sex. That’s all for now, updates to come ^_^

If you are ever diagnosed with an STI/STD and you don’t tell your sexual partners, you SUCK. You totally suck. Yes, it’s embarrassing as hell, but when it comes to health matters, wouldn’t you rather that people were honest with you? You’re owed that, they’re owed that. It doesn’t matter who gave who what, at the end of the day; you are likely to have [unless there’s been some rape involved here] consented to unprotected sex, or you have not put on a condom properly, and you, and indeed your sexual partners have a right to know what’s going in and on with your bodies. ALL of the above are preventable. Easily. You see so many people going crazy having missed a period after the condom split/they had unprotected sex. How many of them go for an STI/D test as well as their morning after pills? Think about it.

Also, you don't even have to have all/most/ANY symptoms to have these. The only way to be sure after the deed, is to be tested!