Gonorrhea : Disease + Symptoms

Gonorrhea is a contagious disease that can affect both men and women. It is caused by a bacterium called Neisseria gonorrhoeae that can easily grow in the mucus membranes of the human body.

It is mostly transmitted when an uninfected person gets in sexual contact with an infected person. It can also be spread when a mother's infected body fluids come in contact with her newborn during childbirth.

It is a common infection and the symptoms vary for both men and women. The symptoms are:

Symptoms in Women:

- White or greenish-yellow vaginal discharge
- Burning sensation while urinating
- Pain in the lower abdomen and in the pelvic region
- Occurrence of Conjunctivitis
- Spotting or light bleeding after sexual intercourse
- Bleeding between periods
- Vulvitis

Symptoms in Men:

- White or greenish-yellow discharge from the penis
- Swelling and pain in the testicles
- Burning sensation while urinating

The symptoms come to notice usually within 2 to 10 days of the infection in case of women and it takes approximately 14 days for them to be recognized in the case of men. However in a few cases, the symptoms may take as long as 30 days to appear or they may appear so negligibly that they are hardly noticeable if they occur at all.



Gonorrhea is Contagious. But is it Only Sexually Transmitted?

Chlamydia is a Sexually Transmitted Disease. It is generally found in men and women under the age of 25. Researchers have found that in the United States about 2.9 million individuals develop this disease every year. 

Here are things that you must know about the disease:

What is it all about?
It is caused due to bacterial infection and is transferred sexually. You can be infected with disease by having vaginal, oral or anal sex with the patient. You must be aware of the fact that you can develop chlamydia even if your partner doesn t ejaculate inside your vaginal tract. If you had suffered from this disease in the past, you can still get it again by having unprotected sex with an infected person.

What are the symptoms of this disease?
There aren t any obvious symptoms for this disease. Most of the patients show no sign of developing this disease. Thus, you never get to know when you were infected actually. However, some patients do reflect some symptoms after 4 to 5 days of infection. These symptoms include abnormal penis or vaginal discharge and painful, burning urination. Men can also develop a bleeding rectum.

How do you know for sure that you are infected?
Well, you can get yourself tested to confirm about the infection.

What happens if you don t get treated?
If the patient doesn t seek medical help, he or she is posing threat to his or her health. Women may develop pelvic inflammatory diseases, infertility or ectopic pregnancy. In men, it can cause pain and fever as the infection spreads along the tube carrying sperm.

Is there any treatment?
This disease is curable. But it is important to avoid sexual contact with anyone during the period of treatment or medication. First, you need to undertake the test to confirm the infection. You shouldn t have sex for seven days after the treatment is over. It is advisable to get yourself tested thrice in a year.

Chlamydia - Things You Must Know About It!

One of the most common physically transmitted diseases is chlamydia. Chlamydia is a type of infection caused by the bacteria "Chlamydia trachomatis". The symptoms of Chlamydia are similar to the symptoms of Gonorrhoea (a bacterial sexually transmitted infection). Chlamydia infection causes permanent fallopian tube damage in women, leads to future ectopic pregnancy (the fertilised egg attaches itself outside the uterus) and infertility.

Symptoms of Chlamydia 
Men and women afflicted with chlamydia exhibit different symptoms.
The symptoms of chlamydia in women include:
1. Abnormal, sometimes foul-smelling, vaginal discharge
2. Bleeding between menstrual cycles
3. Painful periods
4. Abdominal pain, accompanied with fever
5. Pain during intercourse
6. Burning or itching around or in the vagina
7. Painful urination

Men usually display the following symptoms if they have chlamydia:
1. Minimal amounts of cloudy or clear discharge from the head of the penis
2. Painful urination
3. Itching and burning around the slit of the penis
4. Swollen and painful testicles

Treatment options available
1. Chlamydia is diagnosed by taking a swab from the cervix (in women) or the urethra (in men). These swabs will be sent to the laboratory for analysis. Urine samples can also be taken to check for the appearance of bacteria.

2. Since chlamydia is a bacterial infection, it can be easily treated with antibiotics. Oral antibiotics such as azithromycin or doxycycline are commonly prescribed by doctors. Azithromycin is usually prescribed in a large, single dose. The dose may also be stretched out for five days. Doxycycline is taken two times daily for a week.

3. With the right antibiotic therapy, the infection will clear up in 1 to 2 weeks approximately. It is very important that you finish the medication course if you wish you heal completely without having to suffer from further bouts of this disorder.

4. Women with critical chlamydia may need hospitalisation, pain medicine and IV (intravenous, or directly through the vein) antibiotics. Pregnant women with chlamydia infection can be safely cured with antibiotic such as erythromycin ethylsuccinate, amoxicillin and azithromycin.

Your partner needs testing and treatment as well to avoid further spread and reinfection. It is vital not to engage in any sexual activity while the treatment is ongoing. A further retest should be done three months later to make sure the infection is rectified.

Symptoms of Chlamydia and Ways to Treat the Disease

People who suffer from human immunodeficiency virus, commonly known as'hiv, are known as hiv positive people. The virus is the agent of aids that is currently incurable. Hiv is known to alter the human immune system and makes people much more susceptible and vulnerable to diseases and infections. 

Body fluids such as semen, blood, breast milk, vaginal fluids etc. Of an infected individual contains the virus, which can be passed from one person to another during blood-to-blood and/or sexual contact. Hiv positive women may even pass on this virus to their children during pregnancy, delivery or by breast feeding them. Hiv is also transmitted during oral, anal or vaginal sex, by contaminated hypodermic needles and by blood transfusion. 

Mentioned below are a few issues that a hiv positive woman have to face apart from discrimination and stigma, fear of infecting their children or partners, violence and abandonment. 

1. Menstrual disorders: changes in menstrual cycles are frequently reported by hiv infected women. However, menstrual dysfunctions are due to varied reasons that aren't directly related to the disease. Although most of the hiv positive women suffer from amenorrhea i. E. The unusual absence of periods, it is not just due to hiv but also because of weight loss or immunosuppression. 
 
2. Contraception: it is very important that the contraception a hiv positive woman chooses not only acts as birth control, but also to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases and hiv. Although condoms do not provide exceptional pregnancy prevention, they are excellent at preventing transmission of the hiv virus. Permanent sterilization is usually the most chosen contraceptive method for hiv serodiscordant couples.

3. Surgical complications: hiv positive women are at a higher risk of undergoing gynecologic surgery. This is because they are more vulnerable to pelvic infectious disease that requires surgical intervention. There is also a greater risk of developing vulvar cancer in hiv positive women. 

4. Fertility: there has been an increase in the number of seropositive women contemplating pregnancy and childbirth. Most couples resort to assisted reproduction to lower the risk of horizontal hiv transmission. Studies show that undergoing hiv treatment and having an undetectable viral load is helpful in preventing the transmission of hiv. It is important to consult a medical expert if you are unable to get pregnant after at least 6 months of trying. Fertility problems are more common in hiv positive women than hiv negative women.

Issues for HIV Positive Women

STDs or STIs are usually transmitted from one person to another through body fluids while being in a physical relationship. Herpes, Chlamydia, HIV and gonorrhea are some of the common STDs you may be susceptible to. These diseases are extremely unpleasant and usually cause long term health issues. Sometimes they might even be fatal. Here are a few ways you could use to prevent yourself from getting affected with STDs:

    Abstinence: The best and most certain way of preventing STDs is practicing abstinence. Although abstinence from any type of sexual activities including oral, vaginal or anal sex is a surefire method of prevention, it is not a very realistic method to do so. If you don't want to practice abstinence, make sure you educate yourself about other prevention methods.
    Single partner: Practicing monogamy in terms of sex is the safest kind of sexual activity. Make sure both you and your partner get tested for any STD. If you and your partner are not suffering from any STD and you both agree to practice monogamy with each other, then you automatically cut down on the risk of suffering from STDs.
    Talk: Talk to your sexual partner about his/her sexual health. Inform him/her about yours as well. Avoid having sex with someone who does not inform you with his or her sexual health information.
    Avoid taking drugs or alcohol: Try not to get drunk or take drugs before having sex. They reduce inhibitions which actually tend to make you reckless. You tend to become more adventurous and do not keep the sexual hygiene in mind at that time. Using a condom in the influence of alcohol and drugs can also result in a condom failure. Be sober enough before you have sex.
    Do not indulge with a person with symptoms: If someone shows symptoms of suffering from any kind of STD, do not indulge in any sexual activity with him or her. Refrain from having sex with him or her until he or she is treated by a doctor.
    Take precaution: Use different forms of protection while having sex to prevent pregnancy as well as STDs. But you have to realize the fact that these forms of protection are not full proof and always have a slight percentage of risk embedded in them.

Be extremely careful before you indulge in any type of sexual activity with anyone. After all, your health is in your hands.

How To Best Prevent Yourself from STDs or STIs

HIV/AIDS is a type of sexually transmitted disease which is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The HIV virus attacks the immune system and makes the body vulnerable to other diseases. AIDS is the last stage of the HIV infection; HIV takes about 10 to 12 years to fully culminate into AIDS. AIDS completely destroys the immune system and leads to fatal health conditions and diseases such as cancers and other infections because of AIDS.

Causes-

HIV is a retrovirus that infects the vital organs of the human immune system. The virus progresses in the absence of antiretroviral therapy. The rate of virus progression varies widely between individuals and depends on many factors (age of the patient, body s ability to defend against HIV, access to healthcare, existence of coexisting infections, the infected person s genetic inheritance, resistance to certain strains of HIV).

HIV can be transmitted through:

Sexual Transmission. It can happen when there is contact with infected sexual secretions. This can happen while having unprotected sex, including vaginal, oral and anal sex or sharing sex toys with someone infected with HIV.
Perinatal Transmission. The mother can pass the infection on to her child during childbirth, pregnancy, and also through breastfeeding.
Blood Transmission. The risk of transmitting HIV through blood transfusion is nowadays extremely low in developed countries, thanks to meticulous screening and precautions. Among drug users, sharing and reusing syringes contaminated with HIV-infected blood is extremely hazardous.
Contrary to popular belief, HIV can never spread by means of kissing as the virus cannot survive outside the body.

Symptoms-

The early symptoms of HIV appear within a few weeks of contamination by the virus. The early symptoms include headache, pain in the muscles and the joints, rashes and inflated lymph nodes. These symptoms tend to disappear within 2 to 3 weeks.
The next set of symptoms might appear after a few years and these are persistent. The symptoms include, but are not limited to fatigue, loss of body weight, inflated lymph nodes, fever, a sensation of numbness near the limbs, pain when you try to swallow, sores in the mouth and sweating at night.
If you are diagnosed with HIV, you should:

Try to maintain a daily diet containing vegetables, legumes, and fruits which provide you energy.
Try to include a little bit of fat, carbohydrates (at least 3 servings of vegetable per day), calcium (dairy products) and low-fat protein sources (generally 80-150 gram per day of fish, skinned chicken, low-fat cheese etc.) in your everyday meal.
Maintain a daily calorie intake of 17-25 calories per pound depending on whether the person is losing weight.
Vitamins and minerals are particularly necessary to repair the cells damaged by the HIV virus.
So, it is necessary to intake foods such as eggs, milk, peanuts, green vegetables, meat, beans and broccolis on a regular basis, if you have been diagnosed with HIV.

If you are suffering from HIV, you must maintain the following food safety measures:

You should try to restrict the intake of fat
Restrict your alcohol intake
You should try to avoid fast foods
You should also limit your regular sugar intake and should avoid foods with extra sugar

HIV/AIDS - Diet, Nutrition & Food Safety You Must Follow!

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