Sexually transmitted disease (patient information)

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Sexually transmitted disease

Overview

What are the symptoms?

What are the causes?

Who is at highest risk?

When to seek urgent medical care?

Diagnosis

Treatment options

Where to find medical care for Sexually transmitted disease?

What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)?

Possible complications

Prevention

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

## Overview

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Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are infections that you can get from having sex with someone who has the infection. The causes of STDs are bacteria, parasites and viruses. There are more than 20 types of STDs, including

* Chlamydia
* Gonorrhea
* Herpes Simplex
* HIV/AIDS
* HPV
* Syphilis
* Trichomoniasis

Most STDs affect both men and women, but in many cases the health problems they cause can be more severe for women. If a pregnant woman has an STD, it can cause serious health problems for the baby.

## What are the symptoms of Sexually transmitted disease?

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The symptoms vary among the different types of STDs and may include-

* Discharge from the penis or vagina
* Sores or warts on genital area
* Burning while urinating
* Itching and redness in the genital area
* Anal itching

## What causes Sexually transmitted disease?

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Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are infections that you can get from having sex with someone who has the infection. The causes of STDs are bacteria, parasites and viruses. There are more than 20 types of STDs, including Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Herpes Simplex, HIV/AIDS, HPV, Syphilis, Trichomoniasis

## Who is at highest risk?

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Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are infections that you can get from having sex with someone who has the infection.

## When to seek urgent medical care?

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If you are having any of these symptoms or think you might have an STD, talk to your health care provider.

## Diagnosis

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STI tests may test for a single infection, or consist of a number of individual tests for any of a wide range of STIs, including tests for syphilis, trichomonas, gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes, hepatitis and HIV tests. No procedure tests for all infectious agents. STI tests may be used for a number of reasons:

* as a diagnostic test to determine the cause of symptoms or illness
* as a screening test to detect asymptomatic or presymptomatic infections
* as a check that prospective sexual partners are free of disease before they engage in sex without safer sex precautions (for example, in fluid bonding, or for procreation).
* as a check prior to or during pregnancy, to prevent harm to the baby
* as a check after birth, to check that the baby has not caught an STI from the mother
* to prevent the use of infected donated blood or organs
* as part of the process of contact tracing from a known infected individual
* as part of mass epidemiological surveillance

Not all STIs are symptomatic, and symptoms may not appear immediately after infection. In some instances a disease can be carried with no symptoms, which leaves a greater risk of passing the disease on to others. There is often a window period after initial infection during which an STI test will be negative. During this period the infection may be transmissible. The duration of this period varies depending on the infection and the test.

## Treatment options

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If you have an STD caused by bacteria or parasites, your health care provider can treat it with antibiotics or other medicines. If you have an STD caused by a virus, there is no cure. Sometimes medicines can keep the disease under control. Correct usage of latex condoms greatly reduces, but does not completely eliminate, the risk of catching or spreading STDs. There are many different kinds of STDs, and the types of treatment are as varied as their symptoms. No STD is harmless. Even the curable ones can cause serious consequences if left untreated. HIV is of particular concern as biological evidence demonstrates the increased likelihood of acquiring and transmitting HIV when STDs are present.High risk exposure such as that which occurs in rape cases may be treated prophylacticly using antibiotic combinations such as azithromycin, cefixime, and metronidazole

## Where to find medical care for Sexually transmitted disease?

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Directions to Hospitals Treating Sexually transmitted disease

## What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)?

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Early and complete treatment has good prognosis. However, if not properly treated it can lead to adhesions in birth tube and infertility

## Possible complications

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If not properly treated complications like adhesion of birth passage, tube can occur. Infertility is another complication that may be seen

## Prevention

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* Prevention is key in addressing incurable STIs, such as HIV & herpes.

* Sexual health clinics fight to promote the use of condoms and provide outreach for at-risk communities.

* The most effective way to prevent sexual transmission of STIs is to avoid contact of body parts or fluids which can lead to transfer with an infected partner. Not all sexual activities involve contact: cybersex, phonesex or masturbation from a distance are methods of avoiding contact.

* Proper use of condoms reduces contact and risk. Although a condom is effective in limiting exposure, some disease transmission may occur even with a condom.

* Ideally, both partners should get tested for STIs before initiating sexual contact, or before resuming contact if a partner engaged in contact with someone else.

* Many infections are not detectable immediately after exposure, so enough time must be allowed between possible exposures and testing for the tests to be accurate.

* Certain STIs, particularly certain persistent viruses like HPV, may be impossible to detect with current medical procedures.

* Many diseases that establish permanent infections can so occupy the immune system that other diseases become more easily transmitted.

* The innate immune system led by defensins against HIV can prevent transmission of HIV when viral counts are very low, but if busy with other viruses or overwhelmed, HIV can establish itself.

* Certain viral STI's also greatly increase the risk of death for HIV infected patients.

### Vaccines

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Vaccines are available that protect against some viral STIs, such as Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Herpes simplex vaccine (both Herpevac and ImmunoVex), and some types of HPV. Vaccination before initiation of sexual contact is advised to assure maximal protection.

### Condoms

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Condoms only provide protection when used properly as a barrier, and only to and from the area that it covers. Uncovered areas are still susceptible to many STDs. In the case of HIV, sexual transmission routes almost always involve the penis, as HIV cannot spread through unbroken skin, thus properly shielding the insertive penis with a properly worn condom from the vagina and anus effectively stops HIV transmission. An infected fluid to broken skin borne direct transmission of HIV would not be considered "sexually transmitted", but can still theoretically occur during sexual contact, this can be avoided simply by not engaging in sexual contact when having open bleeding wounds. Other STDs, even viral infections, can be prevented with the use of latex condoms as a barrier. Some microorganisms and viruses are small enough to pass through the pores in natural skin condoms, but are still too large to pass through latex condoms.

## Sources

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http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/stds/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/sexuallytransmitteddiseases.html Template:WSTemplate:WH