Gonorrhea
Chlamydia
Syphilis
Genital
Herpes
Human
Papillomavirus (HPV)
HIV
Infection and AIDS
Gonorrhea
What is gonorrhea?
Gonorrhea is a common sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused
by a bacterium that can grow and multiply easily in mucous membranes
of the body. Gonorrhea bacteria can grow in the warm, moist
areas of the reproductive tract, including the cervix (opening
to the womb), uterus (womb), and fallopian tubes (egg canals)
in women, and in the urethra (urine canal) in women and men.
The bacteria can also grow in the mouth, throat, and anus.
How
do people get gonorrhea?
Gonorrhea is spread through vaginal, oral, or anal sex with
someone who has the disease. Gonorrhea can also be passed from
an infected mother to her newborn during vaginal childbirth.
How
common is gonorrhea?
Gonorrhea is a very common infectious disease. Each year approximately
650,000 people in the United States are infected with gonorrhea
What
are the signs and symptoms of gonorrhea?
If symptoms do show up they will do so within a few days to
a few weeks. Most women have no symptoms. Symptoms don’t
always show up in men either.
If symptoms do show up they include: discharges from the vagina
or penis, burning during urination, lower stomach pain in women,
and painful and swollen testicles in men.
What
will happen if I don’t get it treated?
• You can spread gonorrhea to another person.
• The infection can damage the reproductive organs causing
both men and women to be unable to have children.
• The disease can be passed from an infected mother to
her infant during childbirth.
• Can cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), arthritis,
rashes and heart tissue damage.
• Gonorrhea can spread to the blood or joints. This condition
can be life-threatening.
• People with gonorrhea can more easily contract HIV,
the virus that causes AIDS. Persons with HIV infection and gonorrhea
are more likely than persons with HIV infection alone to transmit
HIV to someone else.
Who is at risk for gonorrhea?
Any sexually active person can be infected with gonorrhea. In
the United States, approximately 75% of all reported gonorrhea
is found in people aged 15 to 29 years.
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Chlamydia
What
is chlamydia?
Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted disease, a bacterium
which can damage a woman's reproductive organs. Because symptoms
of chlamydia are mild or absent, serious complications that
cause irreversible damage, including infertility, can occur
"silently" before a woman ever recognizes a problem.
How
do people get chlamydia?
Chlamydia can be transmitted during vaginal, anal, or oral sex.
Chlamydia can also be passed from an infected mother to her
newborn during vaginal childbirth.
How
common is chlamydia?
An estimated 3 million Americans are infected with chlamydia
each year. Chlamydia is so common in young women that, by age
30, 50% of sexually active women have evidence that they have
had chlamydia at some time during their lives.
What
are the symptoms and effects of chlamydia?
Chlamydia is known as a "silent" disease because three
quarters of infected women and half of infected men have no
symptoms. The infection is frequently not diagnosed or treated
until complications develop. The
few women with symptoms might have an abnormal vaginal discharge
or a burning sensation when urinating. When the infection spreads
from the cervix to the fallopian tubes, some women still have
no signs or symptoms; others have lower abdominal pain, low
back pain, nausea, fever, pain during intercourse, and bleeding
between menstrual periods. Whenever the infection spreads past
the cervix into the upper reproductive system, permanent and
irreversible damage can occur leading to infertility (inability
to have children). Men with signs or symptoms might have a discharge
from the penis and a burning sensation when urinating. Men might
also have burning and itching around the opening of the penis
or pain and swelling in the testicles, or both. If symptoms
do occur, they usually appear within 1 to 3 weeks of exposure.
Who
is at risk for chlamydia?
Sexually active men and women can be exposed to chlamydia bacteria
during sexual contact with an infected person. The more sex
partners a person has, the greater the risk of chlamydia infection.
Babies are at risk of acquiring a chlamydial infection from
their infected mother. Sexually active teenagers and young women
are especially susceptible to chlamydia bacteria because of
the characteristics of the cells that form the lining of the
cervical canal.
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Syphilis
What is syphilis?
Syphilis is a complex sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused
by bacteria. It has often been called "the great imitator"
because so many of the signs and symptoms are indistinguishable
from those of other diseases.
How
is syphilis spread?
Transmission of the organism occurs during vaginal, anal, or
oral sex. Pregnant women with the disease can pass it to the
babies they are carrying.
What
are the signs and symptoms in adults?
Primary Stage
• The time between infection with syphilis and the start
of the first symptom can range from 10-90 days (average 21 days).
• The primary stage of syphilis is usually marked by the
appearance of a single sore (called a chancre), but there may
be multiple sores. The chancre is usually firm, round, small,
and painless. It appears at the spot where syphilis entered
the body.
• The chancre lasts 3-6 weeks, and it will heal on its
own. If adequate treatment is not administered, the infection
progresses to the secondary stage.
Secondary Stage
• The second stage starts within 1 week to 6 months after
sores have healed.
• A rash can develop anywhere on the body.
• Other symptoms include fever, swollen lymph glands,
sore throat, patchy hair loss, headaches, weight loss, muscle
aches, and tiredness
• A person can easily pass the disease to sex partners
when primary or secondary stage signs or symptoms are present.
Late Syphilis
• The latent (hidden) stage of syphilis begins when the
secondary symptoms disappear.
• Without treatment syphilis remains in the body and it
may begin to damage the internal organs, including the brain,
nerves, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver, bones, and joints.
• Late stage signs and symptoms include not being able
to coordinate muscle movements, paralysis, numbness, gradual
blindness and dementia. This damage may be serious enough to
cause death.
How common is syphilis?
In the United States, over 35,600 cases of syphilis were reported
by health officials in 1999.
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GENITAL HERPES
What is genital herpes?
Herpes is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the
herpes simplex viruses type 1 (HSV -1) and type 2 (HSV-2).
How
is genital herpes spread?
Herpes is spread during vaginal, oral or anal sex by someone
who has the disease.
How
common is genital herpes?
Nationwide, 45 million people ages 12 and older, or one out
of five of the total adolescent and adult population, are infected
with HSV-2.
What
happens when someone is infected with genital herpes?
• The first episode usually occurs within two weeks after
the virus is transmitted, and the blister-like sores typically
heal within two to four weeks.
• Other signs and symptoms during the primary episode
may include a second crop of sores, or flu-like symptoms, including
fever and swollen glands. However, most individuals with HSV-2
infection may never have sores, or they may have very mild signs
that they don't even notice or that they mistake for insect
bites or a rash.
• Most people diagnosed with a first episode of genital
herpes can expect to have several symptomatic recurrences a
year (typically four or five). These recurrences usually are
most noticeable within the first year following the first episode.
Is
genital herpes serious?
HSV-2 usually produces only mild symptoms or signs or no symptoms
at all. However, HSV-2 can cause recurrent painful genital sores
in many adults, and HSV-2 infection can be severe in people
with suppressed immune systems. Regardless of severity of symptoms,
genital herpes frequently causes psychological distress in people
who know they are infected.
In addition, HSV-2 can cause potentially fatal infections in
infants if the mother is shedding virus at the time of delivery.
It is important that women avoid contracting herpes during pregnancy
because a first episode during pregnancy causes a greater risk
of transmission to the newborn. If a woman has active genital
herpes at delivery, a cesarean delivery is usually performed.
Fortunately, infection of an infant from women with HSV-2 infection
is rare.
In the United States, HSV-2 may play a major role in the heterosexual
spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Herpes can make people
more susceptible to HIV infection, and it can make HIV-infected
individuals more infectious.
Is
there a cure for herpes?
There is no treatment that can cure herpes, but antiviral medications
can shorten and prevent outbreaks during the period of time
the person takes the medication.
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Human
Papillomavirus (HPV)
Genital Warts
What
is genital HPV infection?
Genital HPV infection is a sexually transmitted disease (STD)
that is caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). Human papillomavirus,
or HPV, is the name of a group of viruses that includes more
than 100 different strains or types. Over 30 of these are sexually
transmitted, and they can infect the genital area, like the
skin of the penis, vulva, labia, or anus, or the tissues covering
the vagina and cervix.
Some of these viruses are considered "high-risk" types
and may cause abnormal Pap smears and cancer of the cervix,
anus, and penis. Others are "low-risk," and they may
cause mild Pap smear abnormalities and genital warts. Genital
warts are single or multiple growths or bumps that appear in
the genital area, and sometimes form a cauliflower-like shape.
How
do people get genital HPV infections?
The types of HPV that infect the genital area are spread primarily
through vaginal, anal and oral sex. Rarely, pregnant women can
pass HPV to their baby during vaginal delivery. A newborn that
is exposed to HPV during delivery can develop warts in the larynx
(voice box).
How
common is HPV?
Approximately 20 million people are currently infected with
HPV. Fifty to 75% of sexually active men and women acquire genital
HPV infection at some point in their lives. About 5.5 million
Americans get a new genital HPV infection each year.
What
are the signs and symptoms of genital HPV infection?
Most people who have a genital HPV infection do not know they
are infected. The virus lives in the skin or mucus membranes
and usually causes no symptoms. Other people get visible genital
warts.
These usually appear as soft, moist, pink or red swellings.
They can be raised or flat, single or multiple, small or large.
Some cluster together forming a cauliflower-like shape. They
can appear on the vulva, in or around the vagina or anus, on
the cervix, and on the penis, scrotum, groin, or thigh. Warts
can appear within several weeks after sexual contact with an
infected person, or they can take months to appear.
Genital warts are diagnosed by inspection. Visible genital warts
can be removed, but no treatment is better than another, and
no single treatment is ideal for all cases.
Who
is at risk for genital HPV infection?
Anyone who has sex is at risk for genital HPV infection.
Is
there a cure for HPV?
There is no "cure" for HPV, although the infection
usually goes away on its own. Cancer-related types are more
likely to persist.
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HIV Infection
and AIDS
What
is HIV/Aids?
AIDS
is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). By killing
or damaging cells of the body's immune system, HIV progressively
destroys the body's ability to fight infections and certain
cancers. People diagnosed with AIDS may get life-threatening
diseases called opportunistic infections, which are caused by
microbes such as viruses or bacteria that usually do not make
healthy people sick.
How
is HIV transmitted?
•
HIV is spread through vaginal, anal and oral sex with an infected
partner.
• HIV also is spread through contact with infected blood.
• HIV frequently is spread among injection drug users
by the sharing of needles or syringes contaminated with very
small quantities of blood from someone infected with the virus.
• Women can transmit HIV to their babies during pregnancy
or birth.
Having a sexually transmitted disease such as syphilis, genital
herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhea, or bacterial vaginosis appears
to make people more susceptible to getting HIV infection during
sex with infected partners.
What
are the symptoms of HIV infection?
Many
people do not have any symptoms when they first become infected
with HIV. Some people, however, have a flu-like illness within
a month or two after exposure to the virus. This illness may
include
• Fever
• Headache
• Tiredness
• Enlarged lymph nodes (glands of the immune system easily
felt in the neck and groin)
These symptoms usually disappear within a week to a month and
are often mistaken for those of another viral infection. During
this period, people are very infectious, and HIV is present
in large quantities in genital fluids.
More
persistent or severe symptoms may not appear for 10 years or
more after HIV first enters the body in adults, or within two
years in children born with HIV infection. This period of "asymptomatic"
infection is highly individual. Some people may begin to have
symptoms within a few months, while others may be symptom-free
for more than 10 years.
As
the immune system worsens, a variety of complications start
to take over. For many people, their first sign of infection
is large lymph nodes or "swollen glands" that may
be enlarged for more than three months. Other symptoms often
experienced months to years before the onset of AIDS include
• Lack of energy
• Weight loss
• Frequent fevers and sweats
• Persistent or frequent yeast infections (oral or vaginal)
• Persistent skin rashes or flaky skin
• Pelvic inflammatory disease in women that does not respond
to treatment
• Short-term memory loss
Some people develop frequent and severe herpes infections that
cause mouth, genital, or anal sores, or a painful nerve disease
called shingles. Children may grow slowly or be sick a lot.
Eventually,
a person’s condition will worsen until they develop the
last level of the illness which is classified as AIDS. Symptoms
of opportunistic infections common in people with AIDS include
• Coughing and shortness of breath
• Seizures and lack of coordination
• Difficult or painful swallowing
• Mental symptoms such as confusion and forgetfulness
• Severe and persistent diarrhea
• Fever
• Vision loss
• Nausea, abdominal cramps, and vomiting
• Weight loss and extreme fatigue
• Severe headaches
• Coma
People with AIDS are particularly prone to developing various
cancers, especially those caused by viruses such as Kaposi's
sarcoma and cervical cancer, or cancers of the immune system
known as lymphomas. These cancers are usually more aggressive
and difficult to treat in people with AIDS. Signs of Kaposi's
sarcoma in light-skinned people are round brown, reddish, or
purple spots that develop in the skin or in the mouth. In dark-skinned
people, the spots are more pigmented.
Many
people are so debilitated by the symptoms of AIDS that they
cannot hold steady employment nor do household chores. Other
people with AIDS may experience phases of intense life-threatening
illness followed by phases in which they function normally.
How many people have HIV?
20,000 new cases of HIV are diagnosed every year. There are
approximately 560,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the US.
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