Common STD's

Chlamydia Symptoms: Often Asymptotic, Can cause painful urination, unusual discharge, genital itching Translation: Hurts to use the bathroom, You itch down *there*, Funny stuff is coming out of your penis/vagina, Something just ain't right. 70% of those infected do not have any symptoms at all. This is why Chlamydia is often called the silent epidemic. Consequences: In women: sterility, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (see below), In men: sterility, epididymitis (i.e., infection of the tubes inside the testicles or "your balls hurt"). Infertility can occur without a single noticeable symptom. Treatment: Various antibiotics Other: leading cause of preventable infertility and ectopic pregnancy in the country, 4 MILLION new cases a year, exceedingly common, often untreated until irreversible damage has been done. IF YOU QUESTION AT ALL WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE CHLAMYDIA GO GET TESTED FOR IT SPECIFICALLY BY A DOCTOR OR NURSE. This is the most common bacterial (as vs. herpes, aids or hepatitis which are all viral) STD in America. HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) or Genital Warts Symptoms: Soft, Fleshy, Papillary sessile, painless keratinized growths on the vulvo-vaginal area, penis, anus, urethra, or perineum. May be invisible to the naked eye. Translation: Painless dark skin colored bumps on your penis, vagina, or anus or anywhere there about. Can get very large and are often said to look like cauliflower. Consequences: Really yucky looking, may lead to cervical cancer in women. Treatment: No cure. Treat by removing warts. 80% reoccur. Other: Very very very very strongly associated with cervical cancer. Can make birth difficult. May be spread despite the use of a condom. Gonorrhea Symptoms: Painful, discolored or frequent urination, abnormal discharge, abnormal menstruation. Translation: Hurts to pee. Looks funny when you do. You have to do it a lot. Funny stuff coming out of your body. Period cycle gets messed up in women. Pus is a common symptom. Consequences: Pelvic Inflamm atory Disease/ Epididymitis, Sterility (men & women), infected newborns, disease can spread through the body and cause joint problems. Treatment: Real strong antibiotics. Other: Often no symptoms until you are really sick, often occurs along with chlamydia, CAN OCCUR IN THE THROAT FROM ORAL SEX (the one episode of ER I missed!) as well as in the anus from anal sex, or the eye from not washing your hands after the above. One of the oldest STDs, gonorrhea is mentioned in the Bible. Nicknames: Clap, drip. Hepatitis B Symptoms: Many times no symptoms; possibilities are: lassitude, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, headache, fever, dark urine, jaundice, liver tenderness and swelling. Translation: fever, headache, side/tummy ache, throwing up, don't want to eat, want to throw up, tired all the time, your skin and eyes turn yellow, and your pee turns brownish. Like the flu only a lot worse. Consequences: Liver cancer, the leading cancer killer world wide is due to this infection. Also approximately 10% of people stay sick on and off forever, and 1/3 of them die from the damage it does. Treatment: None. Vaccine: Yes!!!! Cheap!!! The vaccine should be widely available, and is now required for health care workers and heavily reccomended for children. Other: You can't drink alcohol for a year after getting well. You may be in the hospital when you are sick, it is that bad. Syphilis Symptoms: 3 stages. Stage 1: Painless ulcer type sore Stage 2: rash, swollen lymph nodes, hair loss Stage 3: Nothing Translation: Not much for 1, 3 as the sore doesn't hurt and may be small or well hidden; rash and sores for stage 2 Consequences: Death, Insanity, Heart damage, Bone damage, Nerve damage. There are some really horrid pictures of people with entire arms and legs eaten away by syphilis. Treatment: At any point with varied antibiotics. However heart/brain/nerve/bone damage is permanent. Usually VERY easy to treat once it is identified. Other: Needs a specific blood test. Pregnant women with syphilis may miscarry or have children with severe birth defects. Trichomoniasis Symptoms: Excessive, frothy vaginal discharge, painful urination, or infected urine. Often nothing in men. Translation: Funny stuff from your vagina, funny stuff when you pee. Guys may be feeling fine and dandy. Consequences: It just gets worse and gets annoying or painful. Treatment: Drugs. Other: Can smell funny. Herpes Simplex Symptoms: Painful recurring vesicle which turn into ulcerations. Translation: Blisters which pop and leave sores. Hurts. Can occur orally, anally, as well as on the penis/vagina/vulva. Consequences: Never goes away. You break out every time you get stressed out. Treatment: Acyclovir to reduce symptoms in some. Other: Can be transmitted orally. Social stigma. Disease is for life. CAN BE TRANSMITTED PRIOR TO ACTIVE BREAKOUT. Can easily be transmitted during safer sex, as many sores do not occur on the penis/anus/vagina but around them. Very common in the US; some books cite that 1/3 of US adults have Herpes. Note: Herpes and cold sores can be the same virus. Thus you can get Herpes from oral sex with someone with cold sores. (Or get cold sores from someone with Herpes!) Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) Symptoms: Pain in the cervix, uterus, etc., tenderness, fever, chills, high white blood cell count. Translation: Tummy ache, back ache, fever, chills, can be vomiting, etc.. 180,00 hospitalizations per year in the US. Consequences: Sterility, Death. Treatment: Way strong antibiotics. And lots of them. Other: Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Why? PID occurs when a woman has a STD which goes untreated. PID results when the bacteria grow in her uterus, fallopian tubes, or ovaries. This will make her VERY ill and tragically can easily make her sterile. Crab Lice Symptoms: Itching and rash due to arachnid infection. Translation: Little bugs crawling all over your pubic hair and biting you. Consequences: Isn't that enough??? Treatment: Special lice removing chemicals, boil all your sheets and clothes. Spray the furniture. Other: Totally humiliating. Can be caught from shared bedding, clothes. Urinary Tract Infections Symptoms: Painful, urgent, and frequent urination, can lead to painful bladder/kidneys, or fever. Translation: You have to pee all the time, it hurts when you go, and it hurts when you stop, your side or tummy may ache if you don't get help and you can start spiking fevers. Consequences: If untreated can lead to kidney and bladder infections. Kidney infections can kill you. Whee fun. Treatment: Antibiotics including but not limited to: Bactrim, Septra, Cipro. Prevention: UTI's are not STD's, but are so common in women and so often a result of sexual activities that they are often treated by the same people. UTI's, unlike, say AIDS, are not "caught" but sort of develop. This means women can -avoid- them to a certain extent! How? Pee after sex. Pee before sex. Drink several liters of water a day. Clean up afterwards if you use ky or other lubricants. Avoid sex in the missionary position or others which rub the urethra. Drink cranberry juice. Lots of it. Other: Caused by vaginal bacteria in the urethra. Also known as Acute urethral syndrome, dysuria-pyuria syndrome, bacterial cystitis, honeymoon cystitis. EXTREMELY common, between 10-25% of women get one per year! Bacterial Vaginosis Symptoms: Excessive or malodorous discharge, pruritis, edema of the external genitals. Translation: Vaginal discharge: too much and it smells bad. You itch, you may swell, there may be a bit of redness. Consequences: Recurrent symptomology, risk for other infections. Treatment: If symptomatic (the bacteria can be there and not make you sick) Metronidazole, Clindamycin, Flagyl. Other: The man can carry the bacteria for this one! Women get sick, men act as carriers. This can also be caused by an allergic reaction-- it is a case of bacteria gone crazy. Chancroid Symptoms: A single painful ulcer, surrounded by a red halo in men, women are often asymptomatic. Swollen lymph nodes. Translation: Men get sore spots, women just go straight to sick. Consequences: The ulcers can spread all over the body, and make take up to a year to heal. Treatment: Antibiotic combinations. Other: Mostly common in developing countries, fairly unusual in the 1st world. Specific tests have to be conducted to discriminate between this and other STD lesions. Candidiasis Symptoms: Erythema, edema and pruritis in women. Urethritis, balanitis or lesions in men. Translation: Women itch, swell, and turn red. Men hurt to pee, and may get sore spots. Consequences: Recurrent infections. Ick and ow. Treatment: Various nitrate creams, etc.. WARNING THESE CREAMS ARE NOT CONDOM COMPATIBLE!!!!!! THEY WILL DESTROY CONDOMS!!! Other: NOT an STD!!! This is a yeast infection. Yeast are a natural part of a woman's vagina. To stop yeast infections change underwear frequently, avoid sugar based lubricants, don't over douche, wear cotton panties. Granuloma Inguinale Symptoms: Subcutaneous nodules which erupt into granlomatous, which are painless, bleeding, and growing. Autoinoculational spread. Translation: Little bumps under the skin which (like acne) erupt. These however , don't form zits, but instead ulcers that don't hurt but bleed to the touch. If you touch them and touch yourself, they spread. Consequences: Necrosis and destruction of the genitalia. Fever, anemia, malaise, death. Treatment: Tetracycline, streptomycin, chloamphenicol, gentamicin. Penicillins don't work. Other: Rare in the USA, a "traditional" STD worldwide. Takes a long time to go away. Lymphogranuloma Venereum Symptoms: Small primary lesion followed by stiffness, aching in the groin. Translation: Small skin blip which you may miss, followed by stiffness and tummy ache. Consequences: Severe swelling leads to skin ruptures or the vagina or anus or perineum. These lead to infections which in turn kill you. Treatment: A good idea. Various antibiotics will work. Other: Rare in the USA; endemic in Asia and Africa. Molluscum Contagiosum Symptoms: 1 mm to 5 mm smooth, firm, shiny papules. Translation: Itty bitty bumps. Consequences: Secondary staph. infections from open sores. Reoccurring infections. Treatment: Removal of sores with strong acids, and I don't mean LSD. Other: Rare. 1 per every 100 gonorrhea cases. Not always transmitted sexually, before 1977 it was not considered an STD. Nongonococcal Urethritis (NGU) Symptoms: Men have dysuria, urinary frequency and mucoid to purulent urethral discharge. Translation: Hurts to pee but you gotta do it all the time. Yucky stuff coming out of your penis. Can be caused by chlamydia. Consequences: Urethral strictures or epididymitis. Treatment: Depends on infecting agent. Other: The male equivalent to PID.

~Please, Sign the Guestbook~