There is a wide variety of STIs and sexually transmitted diseases, so have a look at the info we have provided below and learn how to protect yourself against them.

What are STIs and STDs?

STDs and STIs are infections or diseases that are passed on via sexual contact, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex. Some STDs and STIs can also be transmitted by syringes after they’ve been used by an a person that is infected with an STD.

You can discover more about the wide variety of STDs and STIs below, as we have listed lots of useful info about a number of the most widespread.

Types of Infection

Chlamydia is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in England. Chlamydia often has no visible symptoms, which means that it can often not be diagnosed. However, once diagnosed, the infection can be treated.

If it’s left untreated, chlamydia might lead to pelvic pain, pain during sexual intercourse, and sometimes bleeding between periods. Men might suffer from swelling of the tube that leads from the bladder to the top of the penis, in addition to swelling of the tube leading from the testes to the penis.

HIV is the most severe STD. It attacks the body’s natural immune system, which generally defends the body against infection and disease.

HIV infects blood cells that are called CD4 cells and are responsible for fighting infection. After getting the HIV virus, the CD4 cells are destroyed by HIV. This leaves a person who is infected with HIV with a high risk of developing an infection, or diseases such as Leukaemia.

Where to Go

If you think you might have a sexually transmitted disease or STI, there’s numerous sexual health clinics that will be able to offer tests and offer treatment. To discover where your local clinic is, just get in touch with your local health authority and they will be pleased to assist you.

On the other hand, you could just visit you Dr who will also be able to assist you. Do not be embarrassed about the explicit nature of your problem – the Dr will frequently see similar sexual health issues.

Protecting Yourself

There’s many ways to protect yourself against sexually transmitted diseases and STIs, although only abstinence is 100% safe. However, sexually active people can protect themselves from STIs and sexually transmitted diseases by ensuring they have regular STI and STD tests.

There are more than 100 different types of HPV that are classified as high risk and low risk, out of which 30 HPV spread through sexual contact. Some types of HPV cause genital warts. Single or multiple bumps are seen in the genital areas of men and women including the vagina, cervix, vulva (area outside of the vagina), penis, and rectum in such cases.

These are classified as low risk types. Common skin warts on the hands and soles of the feet could be caused by some types of HPV but they do not cause genital warts. You can get Genital warts during oral, vaginal, or anal sex with an infected partner as they are very contagious. HPV infection can also spread by skin-to-skin contact during vaginal, anal, or (rarely) oral sex with someone who is infected.

In women Genital warts can grow inside and around the outside of the vagina, on the vulva (opening to the vagina) and cervix, groin and in or around the anus. In men, genital warts can grow on the penis, scrotum, thigh, groin, or in or around the anus. While rarely, genital warts grow in the mouth or throat of a person who has had oral sex with an infected person.

The size of genital warts may be so small, you can’t see them with your eyes or it can be flat and flesh-colored or look bumpy like cauliflower. It is a possibility that warts may never appear. They may cause itching, burning, and discomfort. In fact, most people with low-risk types of genital HPV never know they are infected because they don’t get warts or any other symptom. Most sexually active people have HPV at some point in their lives, though most will never know it because it usual growths are usually flat and invisible.

It is said that approximately 10 of the 30 identified genital HPV types can lead, in rare cases, to development of cervical cancer. High-risk types of HPV could lead to cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, anus, or penis.
To know that you have a HPV infection you can have a Pap test. This test can find changes on the cervix, caused by an HPV infection. The doctor uses a small brush to take cells from your cervix. It is a simple, fast and the best way to find out if your cervix is healthy. If you are of the age of 30 and above the doctor may also do a HPV test without a Pap test. If you have genital warts then as said earlier it can tell you that you have an HPV infection. HPV mostly does not causes serious health problems in men, with the exception of anal cancer in men who have sex with men. There is no test for HPV in men.

The HPV vaccine is generally recommended for 11-12 year-old girls. It can also be given to girls as young as 9. The vaccine is also recommended for women’ from 13 to 26 years of age who have not yet received or completed the vaccine series. The vaccine should be given before the females are sexually active as they get the full benefits of the vaccine when they are not infected with any of those four HPV. It is yet not know if the vaccine is effective in boys or men.

In the primary stage HIV infects major components of the human immune system and directly or indirectly destroys the cells thereof. After enough destruction has been done, the immune system starts to function poorly leading to the condition of AIDS. HIV also affects the organs like kidneys, heart and brain. It also leads to opportunistic infections and cancers.

HIV is transmitted when mucous membrane of one’s body comes to direct contact of a bodily fluid like blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid or breast milk containing HIV. Since its discovery, three main routs have been identified through which HIV can enter human body.

Sexual route:
Majority of HIV infections are caused by the unprotected sexual intercourse, annul, vaginal or oral.

Blood or blood product route:
This particular transmission route is risky for those who use intravenous drugs, hemophiliacs and recipients of blood transfusions. These days blood is thoroughly checked for HIV before transfusion. Blood products are also checked for the same purpose. But it is still of concern if you are forced to go for a blood transfusion in a region where injection equipments are not used hygienically. In most of the poorer countries this kind of unhygienic practices are still prevalent. HIV can also be transmitted through this rout, if one undergoes tattoo, body piercing or scarifications procedures in substandard and uncertified environments.

Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT)
This kind of transmission from the mother to the child takes place in uterus during the last weeks of pregnancy or at the time of childbirth. If the mother does not receive any treatment, the transmission rate between the mother and child is 25%. It has been seen, in the presence of treatment, particularly combined with Cesarian birth, the risk of transmission has been reduced to 1%. However, HIV can also be transmitted to the baby from the infected mother through breast-feeding.

In some cases, HIV virus in small amount have been found in the saliva, tear or urine of infected patient, but these kinds of secretions have little power to transmit the disease to another person.

Well, if these are your ideas regarding the transmission about HIV, then I must say you are grossly under informed. It’s high time that you start doing some meaningful researches to know the real causes of HIV transmission in the human body.

Here are some instances where you have the chances of contacting this deadly disease.

Suppose you have undergone a blood transfusion following an accident. There are chances of HIV virus entering your body through the donated blood. Suppose the carrying mother contacted AIDS, then the child will be born with AIDS viruses in his blood. Do you have this dangerous habit of changing your sex-partner every alternate day? Then you are at a high risk of being infected with AIDS, as unprotected sex with a partner having AIDS is the most potent cause of AIDS. Then another way AIDS virus can enter your body and that is by using a needle with the remains of AIDS infected blood in it. You can also get AIDS if the blood from the wounds of an infected patient gets into yours by an open wound.

So you can see, AIDS is hard to contact and it is not a contagious disease in the sense flu is. AIDS causing HIV virus is spread through the blood; it does not survive in the sweat, tears or air.

Here are some tips to help you prevent this disease:

• Avoid having unprotected sex with multiple partners. Never reuse condoms.
• Be careful to take only HIV free blood, if you ever need to take blood at all.
• Never pick up any needle from the ground and never let it enter your body.
• Always use disposable needles and syringes.
• Be careful not to share needle at the time of body piercing or tattooing.
• In the salon, never share razor.
• You can kiss an AIDS patient in the cheek, but do not go for deeper kiss, as AIDS virus can be sometimes found in the saliva.

]]> http://hiv-tests.us/2011/12/how-to-prevent-aids/feed/ 0 http://hiv-tests.us/2011/12/chlamydia-why-should-you-stop-this-std-before-it-infects-you/ http://hiv-tests.us/2011/12/chlamydia-why-should-you-stop-this-std-before-it-infects-you/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:08:28 +0000 Jessica http://hiv-tests.us/?p=187 Continue reading →]]> Chlamydia is a STD. Chlamydia is also called a silent disease, because many women and sometimes men don’t show any early symptoms of Chlamydia. By the time the symptoms appear, Chlamydia might have spread further. Read the facts about Chlamydia and stop it.

• Chlamydia is a STD. Any type of sexual contact may spread Chlamydia.
• Chlamydia can be spread by oral sex.
• Chlamydia shows very few early signs. The signs may be painful urination, burning, discharge etc.
• Chlamydia can be easily treated with antibiotics if diagnosed early.
• Chlamydia can cause swelling in testicles if not treated in time
• Chlamydia can cause PID in women. PID can lead to infertility in many cases. Even PID spreads quite silently.

Chlamydia- protection

To protect yourself from Chlamydia please try to reduce number of sexual partners. Use latex condom. Unprotected sex can lead to Chlamydia.

Chlamydia- screening

This article is only for informative purposes. This article is not intended to be a medical advise and it is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your medical concerns. Please follow any tip given in this article only after consulting your doctor. The author is not liable for any outcome or damage resulting from information obtained from this article.

Syphilis- what cause Syphilis?

Syphilis is caused by a bacterium. This bacterium is passed on to partners through open sores. If there is no outward sign, the bacteria may not get passed on. The disease shows itself in phases- primary, secondary and latent. It can kill in the latent stage.

Syphilis- stages of Syphilis

Syphilis develops in three phases/stages. In the first stage a painless sore forms on the genitals or mouth. this gets resolved itself without any treatment in some time. After some days of the first phase, the second phase develops. in this phase red rashes are seen on the palms, feet soles and other body parts . You may also see red patches in mucous membranes. Fever may be present. Sometimes the symptoms are so insignificant that this stage is also ignored. After this the diseases becomes latent and develops after some years.

Syphilis- latent stage of Syphilis

In the latent stage, the bacteria affect most of the body organs and if the disease is severe, it may result in death. The first two stages are most contagious. Please watch for the symptoms before you kiss a new partner.

This article is only for informative purposes. This article is not intended to be a medical advise and it is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your medical concerns. Please follow any tip given in this article only after consultin

First of all, HIV isn’t AIDS, but rather AIDS is a stage in the HIV infection. A HIV infection progresses through three main stages: acute infection, chronic infection, and then AIDS. While HIV symptoms tend to be vague, especially in the first two stages, a few key conditions are night sweats, severe weight loss and swollen lymph nodes.

There is no guarantee that a person who has been diagnosed with HIV, and is showing the classic HIV symptoms, will ever develop AIDS. In persons who do progress, the first AIDS symptoms typically become evident within 10 to 15 years of first contracting the disease. In a small percentage of individuals, the onset of all AIDS symptoms can be as short as 3 years after infection. Sadly, the initial stages of HIV often exhibit no symptoms so by the time a patient shows all AIDS symptoms, their immune system has already been compromised.

AIDS symptoms’ is itself a misleading term as there is no one set of signs that can be used to make an accurate diagnosis without a blood test. That being said, there are some conditions that may point to a possible case of AIDS. They are similar to those of a stage 1 or stage 2 HIV infection but tend to be more acute. All AIDS symptoms include fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, a fever lasting more than 10 days, unexplained weight loss, purplish spots on the skin, shortness of breath, severe or chronic diarrhea, yeast infections in the mouth or vagina, easy bruising or unexplained bleeding and the most well-known of all AIDS symptoms, night sweats.

It is clear that all AIDS symptoms are debilitating, but some can be explained by other conditions, such as food poisoning or even heart disease. Therefore, there is generally no reason to worry if you’re just running a fever or you’ve been tired for the past few days. However, if you’re exhibiting three or more of these symptoms, much less all AIDS symptoms or HIV symptoms, and you haven’t been tested, you need to get yourself to a doctor. Even if you have none of the conditions listed and you know that you may have possibly been exposed, get tested. It’s the only smart thing to have done.

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