by STDs360 on October 5, 2010
Overall, there really isn’t much good news when it comes to STDs. While STD treatment programs and methods have become far more aggressive and successful in the last half century, STD transmission rates have not dropped exponentially. There are many reasons for this, such as long incubation rates for STD carriers – especially HIV and AIDS. But if you are looking for a silver lining, you can certainly say that STD treatments have gotten much better.
There are still certain STDs that have no permanent cure. Herpes and HIV are in this category of sexually transmitted diseases. But almost all other sexually transmitted diseases can be cured, and often quite quickly with modern antibiotics and antiviral treatments and medicines. It’s no excuse to go out and party like a wild animal or anything, but with a great number of STDs there are effective treatment options.
The key to STD treatment, as with many other kinds of illness and disease, is early detection. And the difficult part of this with STDs is that they often do not cause symptoms until they have progressed for quite some time. In other words, you don’t contract Chlamydia one day and wake up the next morning with a burning sensation while urinating. With females 75% will not present symptoms and with males only 50% will have symptoms associated directly with Chlamydia. All that means is that if you are involved in highly risky sexual behaviors and activities you should have regular screenings for all kinds of STDs – to say nothing of considering changing your lifestyle to protect yourself.
Topical treatments are common, as are pills for certain kinds of STDs. Proper screening must be done to determine exactly which STD needs to be treated since very specific types of medication are required for each different variety. The earlier in the course of a disease treatment begins the better it works, which stands to reason, but even highly advanced STDs can be cured in most cases.
by STDs360 on October 5, 2010
It can be difficult to know if you have symptoms of STDs. Although many of these diseases can have similar symptoms, symptoms by themselves can’t help you identify which STD you might have. Besides that, not all symptoms that can be associated with an STD means you have a sexually transmitted disease. There are other genital, urinary tract and reproductive organ disorders that have similar presentations when it comes to symptoms.
However, some of the common things typical to several different diseases that might be symptoms of STDs include pus or discharge from the urethra. Pain during urination is also prevalent with Syphilis, Gonorrhea and Chlamydia, especially in males. Itching and burning sensations are also part of STDs such as Crabs and Herpes. Herpes can also leave telltale blisters on the genital areas.
But the really tough part of sexually transmitted diseases and why they are so dangerous from an epidemic standpoint is that in many cases they do not present any symptoms at all in a great number of infected people until the disease has progressed for quite some time. During that time highly sexually active people can potentially infect many other partners. Fifty percent of men and less than 25% of females show symptoms of Chlamydia, for example. No pain, no discharge, not much of anything until it gets so bad that treatment becomes quite difficult.
In the end you can’t rely on looking for symptoms of STDs to determine if you have contracted one. And the scariest of them all – HIV – has no symptoms of its own and can lie in the blood stream for years before beginning to cause problems all over the body.
If you suspect that you have come into contact with someone with an STD you need to schedule a screening appointment right away. If you are presenting any of the symptoms above you certainly need to get treatment right away – whether it turns out to be an STD or not. The urinary and reproductive tracts are vulnerable and sensitive to infections.
While treatment options and effectiveness for STDs and other urinary/reproductive problems has become very effective in the last few decades, you still need to waste no time the moment you think you might be exhibiting symptoms of STDs and get immediate treatment.
