News | STD’s: Fact and Fiction

Posted in Male Sexual Health News, News

By Anna Lamy | Hernando Today

August 26, 2010

About 3 million teenagers, or about one in four sexually active teens, get a STD each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The occurrence of STDs remains among the most common infectious diseases in the United States. There are more than 20 identified STDs that affects more than 13 million people each year, according to the CDC.

Crystal Waddy, disease intervention specialist for the Hernando County Health Department said, “In Hernando County, the incidence rate for STDs has increased over the last couple of years, since 2006.”

The increase in reporting can be attributed to more sensitive screening tests being available, she adds.  Overall, STD infections are three times more likely to occur in females than males. However, primary and secondary stage syphilis is shown to be higher in males.

According to the Florida Department of Health, bacterial STDs reported for the age group of 15-19, Hernando County is 39 percent below the state average.

Also, when comparing data from 2006 to 2008, Hernando County increased by 38 percent for this same group. Hernando County ranks statewide in the lower range, along with Pasco, in comparison to Sumter and Citrus counties.

The most commonly known STDs are: genital herpes, genital warts (HPV), gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, trichomoniasis, hepatitis B, and HIV.

The common five myths regarding STDs
•Only ‘trashy’ people get STDs.

Regardless of a person’s ‘status’, anyone who engages in sexual contact or activity, puts you or a person at risk. Only individuals who abstain from sexual activities are not at risk. It is also important to note that birth control does not protect females from contracting an STD.

•If your partner has an STD, you will see it.

Often there are no signs visible of an STD. Most of the time, blood is drawn to test for STDs and many do not know they have one, because some do not cause symptoms. Also, some individuals are carriers and spread the virus without even knowing or having an outbreak. Untreated, STDs can cause serious health problems.

•You can avoid STDs by having oral or anal sex.

Where there is sexual activity, there can be risk in contracting a STD. Viruses or bacteria that cause the STD can enter the body through tiny cuts or tears in the mouth and anus, as well as the genitals. Some STDs, like herpes or genital warts, can spread just through skin-to-skin contact with an infected area or sore.

•Once you have had an STD, there is no chance you can get it again.

Some STDs you can get more than once. There are some that you will have for the rest of your life, herpes and HIV. Other types of STDs, like chlamydia and gonorrhea are treatable, but you can get infected again when in sexual contact with someone who has them.

•If you are checked and are STD free, your partner does not need to be checked.

Nothing says more to a person that ‘you care’ when you encourage your partner to get tested with you before engaging sexual activity. By doing so, you are protecting yourself and your partner from serious illness or health problems.

Common STDs
Genital herpes, a life long, incurable infection, seems to continually increase in prevalence, especially in African-Americans, in particularly females. However, overall reported cases occurring have been in a slight decline, reports the CDC.

Herpes is may be more prevalent, but are not reported to the state or CDC, advises Waddy.

Genital warts, also known as venereal warts or condylomata acuminata, are one of the most common types of sexually transmitted diseases.

They affect the moist tissues of the genital area. They may look like small, flesh-colored bumps or have a cauliflower-like appearance. Genital warts may be very small, or they may multiply into large clusters. Genital warts are a serious health concern.

The virus that causes genital warts, the human papillomavirus (HPV) has been associated with cervical cancer. It has also been linked with other types of genital cancers.

“For 2009, 366 cases of STDs (chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis) were reported for the county,” Waddy said, adding statewide Hernando County ranks 32nd in total cases and 63rd in cases/100,000 population.”

HPV infections are so common at least 50 percent of sexual active males and females get it at some point in their lives, according to the CDC. Nationwide, approximately 12,000 women get cervical cancer each year.

“Chlamydia remains the most commonly reported STD in the United States,” said Waddy, “There were more than 1.2 million cases reported nationally to the CDC in 2008.”

“The CDC estimates a 9.2 percent increase in chlamydia cases from 2007 to 2008. Florida is ranked 25th out of all the states for chlamydia,” said Waddy.

However, research indicates the majority of chlamydia cases go undiagnosed or unreported and there is an estimated additional 2.8 million cases occurring in the United States each year, adds Waddy.

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advises for females, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a complication that can occur from contracting chlamydia or gonorrhea.

“Florida is ranked 11th out of all the states for infectious syphilis,” said Waddy.

Syphilis has steadily increased the past couple of years. The southern region of the country accounts for almost 50 percent of syphilis cases in the country, reported by the CDC.

“It is important individuals who are considering having sex, to get regular gynecological or male genital examinations,” recommends Waddy. These exams give doctors a chance to teach about STDs and protection methods. And a regular exam provides an opportunity for a doctor to check patient for STDs while they’re still in their earliest, most treatable stage. Even after treatment and ‘cured’, STDs can be contracted again, she adds.

What is a STD?
“An STD is an infection that is acquired by sexual contact,” said Waddy. Anytime an individual participates in sexual activity without protection, he or she is at risk in contracting a STD or HIV.

The infectious organisms that cause sexually transmitted diseases may pass from person to person in blood, semen or vaginal fluids. It is possible to contract a STD from someone who seems healthy.

Many, in fact, are unaware that he/she may have an STD, she adds.

At first, many STDs have no immediate symptoms of a condition. Several STDs can be mistaken for other conditions, so it is important to get the correct diagnosis.

She describes symptoms as a sore or cluster of sores/bumps, with or without pain in the genital, oral or rectal areas. Sometimes symptoms can be a simple as painful urination, discharge from penis or vagina, this includes unusual bleeding for females.

Other symptoms can be sore or swollen lymph nodes, particularly in the groin area, but can be more wide spread. Fever and flu-like symptoms could also occur.

In addition, there are some symptoms that may not occur until several days after exposure and can appear up to three months after exposure.

Also, conditions can clear up within a few weeks, without treatment. Without any treatment, progression and reoccurrence usually occurs. Transmission of the STD can still occur even without a current ‘breakout.’

Advance progression of STDs can have symptoms such as sores and bumps anywhere on the body, recurrent genital sores, and generalized skin rash. Other symptoms are pain during intercourse, scrotal pain — redness and swelling, pelvic pain, groin abscess, or infections associated with HIV.

Also, some symptoms can be infertility, infections — neurological or cardiovascular, problems and cancer.
You need to seek professional medical help and be tested for STDs if you suspect you have been exposed, your partner has one, or if you show any signs and/or symptoms mentioned.

Causes of STDs
Bacteria or parasites cause STDs. Many of them rely completely on sexual transmission to survive, meaning that if you have one of these conditions, you most likely got it from sexual contact.

With the exception of intravenous drug abusers who have a high risk of HIV and hepatitis B infections, which can be spread through needle sharing. General risk factors to consider are:

•Being sexually active. Some activities carry a high risk of transmitting infection. The riskiest activities are anal and vaginal intercourse.

•Starting sexual activity at an early age. The possibility of catching an STD or becoming pregnant doesn’t seem real to many adolescents. If they worry about risk at all, they do so after having sex. Also, the younger you start, the more partners you may have.

•Having high-risk sex. Vaginal or anal penetration by an infected partner who is not wearing a latex condom transmits some diseases with frightening efficiency. Without a condom, a man who has gonorrhea has a 70 to 80 percent chance of infecting his female partner in a single act of vaginal intercourse. Oral sex is less risky but still too dangerous to chance without a latex condom or dental dam.

•Currently having an STD. Being infected with one STD makes it much easier for another STD to take hold. If you’re infected with herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea or chlamydia and you have unprotected sex with an HIV-positive partner, you’re more likely to contract the virus.

•Having a history of an STD. If you’ve had one STD, you’re at increased risk of catching another one, partly because you and your potential sex partners often belong to social networks made up of people of similar age, location and background.

Within these overlapping networks, couples regularly form, split up and find new partners. If one STD is making its way through such a network, there’s a good chance that others are, too.

•Having multiple sex partners over time. Every time you break up with one partner and move on to another, even if each relationship is monogamous, your STD risk is increased.

•Using alcohol or recreational drugs. These habits lower your inhibitions and impair your judgment, so you’re more likely to take sexual risks.

•Injecting drugs. Needle-sharing spreads many dangerous infections, including HIV and hepatitis B. If you acquire HIV by injecting drugs, you can transmit it sexually.

•Being young. Almost half of the new cases of STDs each year are in people between the ages of 15 and 24 years.

•Being female. At all ages, women are more likely to have severe STD complications, such as infertility, than are men. In teenage girls and young adult women, the cervix is made up of constantly changing cells. These unstable cells make the cervix more vulnerable to certain sexually transmitted organisms, so vaginal intercourse poses added risks.

•Being African-American. STDs, particularly gonorrhea and syphilis, are reported in a disproportionate number of African-Americans. This may be partly because African-Americans are more likely to receive care at clinics that report STD statistics, including breakdowns of cases by age, sex and race.

•Having sex with men. Whether you’re male or female, male sex partners are riskier. For women, having vaginal intercourse or performing oral sex on a man without a latex condom is a high-risk activity.

Homosexual men are also at increased risk of STDs, as are male and female sex workers and their customers. Some men who have heterosexual relationships also engage in clandestine sex with other men, posing risks to themselves and their partners of both sexes.

•Meeting people in public places or online for sex. Casual, anonymous sex promotes the spread of STDs across social networks and different demographic groups.

Tests
An individual’s sexual history and current signs and symptoms may suggest they may have an STD, advises Waddy. There are laboratory tests available to identify the cause and detect co-infections. A simple test is a blood test that can confirm the diagnosis of most viral STDs, she adds.

For active herpes sores, testing the fluid and scrapings of the sores is simpler and less expensive than the testing blood. Laboratory tests of material from a genital sore or discharge are used to diagnose the most common bacterial STDs at an early stage.

Chlamydia may go unnoticed at this stage in both men and women, though, delaying the diagnosis until complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) occur. Women can easily miss the symptoms or signs of gonorrhea as well.

Treatment
Antibiotics can cure many sexually transmitted bacterial and parasitic infections, including gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia and trichomonas, advises Waddy. A single antibiotic dose, given orally or injected, and is generally all that is needed to stop gonorrhea, when it’s limited to the urethra and cervix.

Typically when receiving treatment, the patient will also be treated for chlamydia at the same time, because the two infections often appear together. Chlamydia treatment is a one time dose of antibiotic in the form of pill or liquid, she adds.

Once you start antibiotic treatment, it’s crucial to follow through, she recommends. If you don’t think you’ll be able to take medication as prescribed, be sure to tell your doctor. A shorter, simpler treatment regimen may be available.

Sexually transmitted viral infections are not curable, but two such infections, human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis B, are preventable with vaccines prior to exposure. You’ll have fewer herpes recurrences if you take daily suppressive therapy with a prescription antiviral drug, but you can still give your partner herpes at any time.

Treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy and other antiviral drugs can keep HIV infection in check for many years, although the virus persists and can still be transmitted. The sooner you start treatment, the more effective it is. If you take anti-HIV medication for 28 days, starting as soon as you know you’ve been exposed, you may avoid becoming HIV-positive.