Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) are common, important
and PREVENTABLE diseases. In the United States more
than 65 million
people are living with an STD. The majority of them are viral.
Viral infections cannot be cured today; the symptoms are only
manageable with medication. Bacterial infections can be cured
with antibiotics if the individual knows that he or she is infected
and receives treatment.
Prevention of one case of a STD can result in the prevention of many subsequent cases. Abstinence and sexual intercourse with one mutually faithful uninfected partner are the only totally effective prevention strategies.
--Center for Disease Control
Before 1960, there were two common sexually transmitted diseases: syphilis and gonorrhea, which were both easily treated with penicillin. Now there are more than 25
STDs. Each year 15 million Americans get an STD. Approximately 2/3 of all STD infections occur in people under 25.
STDs are irritating and sometimes painful infections. But the most serious effects of STDs are the health complications that may not occur until after the infection is gone. These complications include pelvic inflammatory disease possibly resulting in infertility, ectopic pregnancy and/or chronic pelvic pain, problems in carrying a pregnancy, problems in the children born to infected mothers, cancers and even death.
Adolescent and adult women are disproportionately affected by STDs. Infection with one STD increases the risk of having or acquiring another STD, including HIV.
People can look healthy, but have an STD. A person can have a STD and not know he/she is infected. On the other hand, a person may know he/she has an STD and not divulge that information. The Archives of Internal Medicine reports that 48
percent of males and 22 percent of females did not disclose the fact that they were infected with HIV to their sexual partners.
Some STDs, HIV, hepatitis B, chlamydia, trichomoniasis, gonorrhea-- are transmitted by infected body fluid (semen, vaginal secretions, blood). Others are transmitted by direct skin to skin contact (herpes, HPV, syphilis, pubic lice, scabies, chancroid, etc.). Some STDs are viruses (HIV, hepatitis B, herpes, HPV, etc.) Other STDs are bacteria or other organisms (chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, lymphogranuloma venereum, granuloma inguinalae, syphilis, pubic lice, chancroid,
etc.).
Prevention of STDs is very
important. There are no vaccines for STDs, except for Hepatitis
B.
Condom use reduces the risk of an STD infection, but does not
eliminate the risk. In order for condoms to be effective, they
must be used correctly and consistently, 100 percent of the time for
each sexual encounter. The studies show that condom use among
teens (the ones who are at most risk for STDs) is greater than
50 percent at last intercourse; this is in response to the increased
AIDS awareness. While this may sound hopeful, as the condom
use rate has increased, the STD infection rate is clearly the
highest in history. There were 15.3 million new cases of
STDs in the U.S. in 1996, 3 million higher that the mid
80s calculations by the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention. About a quarter of all new STD cases occur in teens
15-19 years old, and two-thirds in people ages 15-24.***
***Kaiser Foundation -Sexually Transmitted Diseases in
the U.S. (6-14-2001) |
