Guide to Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Prevention:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend:

• "The surest way to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases is to abstain from sexual intercourse, or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and you know is uninfected."

•"Correct and consistent use of the male latex condom can reduce the risk of STD transmission. However, no protective method is 100 percent effective, and condom use cannot guarantee absolute protection against any STD".

HIV/AIDS

•How it spreads: During oral, anal or vaginal sex and by sharing needles. Infected mothers can pass it to children before or during birth or by breastfeeding.

•Symptoms: Rapid weight loss, extreme fatigue, night sweats, swollen glands or white spots in the mouth

•Treatment: Medications can help slow the disease, but there is no cure.

Chlamydia

•How it spreads: During oral, anal or vaginal sex. It can also spread from an infected mother to her baby at birth.

•Symptoms: About three-fourths of infected women and half of infected men don't experience any. For women, abnormal discharge, bleeding between periods, nausea, fever and pain during intercourse can occur. The infection can lead to infertility. Men can experience painful urination and penile discharge, but often have no symptoms.

•Tests: Lab tests of fluids from the infected area or urine.

Gonorrhea

•How it spreads: During oral, anal or vaginal contact. Ejaculation isn't necessary for the disease to be transmitted. It can also be spread from an infected mother to her baby at birth.

•Symptoms: Most infected women have none, but painful urination, increased vaginal discharge or bleeding between periods can occur. Some infected men don't have any, but signs include painful urination, a discolored discharge from the penis or pained and swollen testicles.

•Tests: Lab tests of areas likely to be infected.

•Treatment: Antibiotics

•How it spreads: Skin-to-skin contact with a sore.

•Symptoms: Painless sores on genitals, mouth or lips; secondary stage: rashes; late stage: numbness, paralysis or blindness.

•Tests: Blood test or microscopic test of sore

•Treatment: Antibiotic injections

HPV (human papillomavirus)

•Symptoms: Genital warts; without treatment, can lead to cervical cancer

•Tests: Pelvic exam, Pap smear

•Treatment: None for the virus, but there are treatments for ailments it can cause, including wart removal. Early cervical cancer diagnosis can lead to effective treatment. There is also a vaccine to prevent HPV.

Genital Herpes

•How it spreads: Skin-to-skin genital contact

•Tests: Pelvic exam, lab test of sore or blood test

•Treatment: Antiviral medications can prevent and shorten outbreaks, but there is no cure.

Bacterial Vaginosis (BV)

•How it spreads: It is not "spread" but is associated with an imbalance between "good" and "bad" bacteria in the vagina. Having new or multiple sex partners and douching boost the risk.

•Symptoms: Most don't have any, but abnormal and odorous vaginal discharge, itching around the vagina and burning during urination can occur.

•Treatment: Antibiotics

Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)

•How it spreads: Vaginal sex, associated with chlamydia and gonorrhea

•Symptoms: Often undiagnosed due to mild -- but potentially harmful -- symptoms such as lower abdominal pain, odorous vaginal discharge, painful urination and intercourse, or irregular menstruation bleeding.

•Tests: Lab cultures of the cervix, pelvic ultrasounds

Hepatitis B (HBV)

•How it spreads: Contact with infected blood, vaginal or anal sex with an infected partner, shared needles. It can also be passed from an infected mother to her baby during birth.

•Symptoms: Jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain or nausea

•Tests: Blood test

•Treatment: Medications can help control the incurable disease, but there is a preventative vaccine.

•How it spreads: Infected blood enters an uninfected body, as with drug users' shared needles, on-the-job needle exposure or from an infected mother to her baby at birth.

•Symptoms: Most have none, but jaundice, fatigue, dark urine, loss of appetite, nausea or abdominal pain can occur.

•Tests: Blood test

•Treatment: Medications help treat the disease, but there is no cure or vaccine.

SOURCE: U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION.