STD – infection that are passed from one person to another through sexual contact.

The causes of STDs

are bacteria, parasites, yeast and viruses.

 Antibiotics can treat STDs caused by bacteria, yeast or parasites

Diagnosis

- Blood tests. Can confirm the diagnosis of HIV or later stages of syphilis
- Urine samples. Some STIs can be confirmed with a urine sample
- Fluid samples. If you have active genital sores, testing fluid and samples from the sores may be
done to diagnose the type of infection. Laboratory tests of material from a genital sore or
discharge are used to diagnose some STIs

Types of STDs

Chlamydia

 A common sexually transmitted sexual disease. It is caused by bacteria called Chlamydia

trachomatis.
 Can infect both men and women
 Women can get chlamydia in the cervix, rectum, throat
 Men can get chlamydia in the urethra, rectum or throat

Symptoms

Symptoms in women include:

 Abnormal vaginal discharge, which may have a strong smell

 A burning sensation when urinating
 Pain during intercourse

Symptoms in men include:

 Discharge from the penis

 A burning sensation when urinating
 Burning or itching around the opening of the penis
 Pain and swelling in one or both testicles

How will you know if you have chlamydia

 There are lab tests to diagnose chlamydia. Health care providers may ask you to provide a urine
sample. For women, providers sometimes use a cotton swab to get a sample from the vagina to
test for chlamydia

Treatment

Antibiotics will cure the infection. You may get a one time dose of the antibiotics or you may need to
take medicine every day for 7 days.

Genital Herpes
  Also called as Herpes genitalis
 A sexually transmitted disease caused by a herpes simplex virus (HSV).
 Can cause sores on the genital or rectal area, buttocks, and thighs.
 Mothers can also infect their babies during childbirth

Symptoms

 Fever & flu-like symptoms

 Nausea or feeling sick
 Muscle aches
 Painful urination
 Tingling, burning or itching sensation in the area where blisters will appear

Treatment

 Intermittent treatment – Your doctor may prescribe an antiviral drug to keep on hand incase
you have another flare-up, you can take the pills for two to five days as soon as you notice sores
or when you feel an outbreak coming on.
 Suppresive treatment – taking an antiviral drug every day

Gonorrhea

 Most common in young adults

 The bacteria that can cause gonorrhea can infect the genital tract, mouth or anus
 Caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria

Symptoms

Gonorrhea does not always cause symptoms. In men, gonorrhea can cause pain when urinating and
discharge from the penis. If untreated, it can cause problems with the prostate and testicles.

In women, the early symptoms of gonorrhea often are mild. Later, it can cause bleeding between
periods, pain when urinating and increased discharge from the vagina. If untreated, it can lead to pelvic
inflammatory disease which causes problems with pregnancy and infertility.

Treatment

Recommended treatment for gonorrhea are antibiotics either ceftriaxone or cefixime administered as an
injection.

HIV/AIDS
  HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus
 It harms your immune system by destroying the white blood cells that fight infection

 AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

 It is the final stage of infection with HIV

 Not everyone with HIV develops AIDS

Symptoms
 Fever
 Chills
 Sore throat
 Swollen lymph nodes
 Rash
 Mouth ulcers
Treatment
There are five major types of medicine:
Reverse transcriptase inhibitors – interfere with a critical step during the HIV life cycle and keep the
virus from making copies of itself
Protease inhibitor – interfere with a protein that HIV uses to make infectious viral particles
Fusion inhibitors – block the virus from entering the body’s cells
Integrase inhibitors – block an enzyme HIV needs to make copies of itself
Multidrug inhibitors – combine two or more different types of drugs into one