Sexually Transmitted Diseases should be taken very seriously by everyone. Though most STDs are curable, when untreated they can cause serious health problems, deformities, sexual problems, pain and even death. Some STDs are incurable. And being sexually transmittable, it means the sex partners of a person with an STD are at serious risk of contracting the disease. There are dozens of kinds of STD, including HIV (the virus that causes AIDS). The most common STDs are covered here. If you suspect you may have been exposed to STD, have the symptoms of STD, avoid sexual contact with others, and see a doctor. If you do have STD, begin treatment as soon as possible and only have sex with partners using protection (a condom or other barrier) until the condition is gone.

STDs are also known as venereal diseases, VD, and many slang and common terms (clap, crabs, pox, bad blood, chankres, rot), and people often refer to themselves as "clean" or "free" or "clear" or "negative" to indicate they have no STDs, and people with STDs often are referred to as "dirty" or say they are "positive." It is important to remember that people who claim to be STD-free do not actually know if they are, simply because they don't feel sick and therefore haven't been tested. People will often lie about their sexual health because they are lonely or anxious for a sexual encounter.

Why You Don't Want any STDs (in plain English):

• They can make you feel miserable, uncomfortable and sick;
• Some STDs can't be cured and you'll have to either take medicines the rest of your life (that have effects on you) or be sick all your life;
• They can make you infertile (unable to have babies);
• They can damage your sexual organs so you can't have sex;
• They can make you stink so bad, look so nasty or act so strange nobody would want to have sex with you; and
• Some of them can make you blind, insane, paralyzed or dead.

Like many diseases, there's usually a period of days or weeks between contracting STD and noticeable symptoms developing. This means that many people with STD do not know they have it. They may even sincerely claim to be "clean." STDs are infections, otherwise, germs such as bacteria or viruses. Germs that cause STD thrive in warm, moist areas of the body, so the mouth, rectum and genitals make a good home for these germs. All STDs can be passed from one partner to another through vaginal sex, anal sex, and oral sex.

Finding a Doctor
If you are not sure where to go to get checked or treated for STD, your doctor may be able to help you. Before AIDS became a widespread problem, less discussion took place about STD, and many doctors are still unfamiliar with common STDs. My recommendation (Alex Firestone, that is) is to either see a specialist (Urologist, Gynecologist or Endocrinologist), or visit your community's public health clinic. The public health clinics are usually inexpensive or free, and generally diagnose and treat STD more often than general practitioners. I say this because I've interviewed many doctors about STDs.

High Risk Factors
The following activities increase the risk of contracting (or spreading) STD:

• Contact with infected blood, urine or semen (sperm).
• Close sexual contact (oral sex, vaginal sex or anal sex) with individuals that you do not KNOW have been tested negative for STDs. You don't know unless you've seen or heard their test results yourself.
• Having many partners or having frequent casual sex (such as meeting people in bars and at parties and having sex with them).
• Sharing needles with others.
• Sharing sex toys (dildos, vibrators, pumps, plugs and beads) or using sex toys that have not been thoroughly washed.
• Receiving blood transfusions (such as for hemophilia, blood disorders, surgery and/or kidney disease). Blood from hospitals used in transfusions is required to be tested for certain STDs, but mistakes are sometimes made.
• Overuse of drugs or alcohol. Severe intoxication puts an individual at risk of engaging in or being subjected to risky sexual contact that he/she might not otherwise experience.

How to Protect Yourself
The more people you come in sexual contact with, the greater your chances are of contracting a STD. The more careful you are with your own health, partner selection, and use of protective devices, the safer you will be. Steps to take include:

• Abstaining (not having sex with others). This is also called celibacy or going solo. Some people abstain from sex with others for one or more years to develop self control and obtain more reliable STD test results following periods of high-risk behavior. Persons who abstain from sex with others can still find great satisfaction through masturbation and use of masturbation devices.
• Choose one negatively tested individual as your long-term sex partner. Often, the longer you have sex with the same individual, the better you both become at satisfying each other. Sex with one partner is not only safer, but usually better than sex with strangers.
• Discuss past sex partners, drug use and social behavior with your partner before your relationship becomes sexual. Don't have sex with someone you think might have an STD. If your partner has engaged in high-risk activities, insist that he/she get a thorough STD examination by a doctor before having sex.
• Examine your partner closely before sex for any signs of STD, such as a rash, sores, redness, swelling or discharge. If anything you see worries you, don't have sex with the partner until the condition is either either cured or determined by a doctor to not be sexually transmittable.
• Use condoms (also known as rubbers), which are sheaths that create a barrier between a man's penis and his partner. Latex and polyurethane condoms reduce the transmission of bodily fluids between partners and therefore reduce the risk of spreading STDs. Natural (lamb skin) condoms are NOT good protection against STDs.
• Since you can't be 100% sure what your partners are doing, get checked for STDs regularly if you have sex partners. I recommend every 3 to 12 months, depending on whether you have one or more regular sex partners, and how much high-risk behavior you or they may participate in.
• If you have an STD, don't have sex with others until your treatment is complete. Naturally, doing so could infect others, but it could also cause them to reinfect you after your treatment has ended.
• If you are taking a prescription medication for an STD, take it exactly as instructed for as long as you're told to. If you stop taking your medicine because you feel better, the condition may not be entirely gone and you might have to start over again.

General Symptoms of Sexually Transmitted Disease
If you have any of these symptoms, avoid sex and see a doctor right away!

Information about Common STDs
Click the name of the STD to read more information not found on the chart.

Additional Information about These STDs

Chlamydia or Nongonococcal Urethritis (NGU)
NGU is an infection of the urethra, which is the "tube" inside you from your bladder through which you pee. This infection is often a bacteria called Chlamydia. NGU can be obtained in other ways than sex, and some people's bodies are more susceptible to it than others. Sometimes the symptoms are so mild an infected person may be unaware of a problem, particularly males.

Human Papilovirus (HPV) or Warts
Health professionals argue about how widespread HPV is, since many who carry it have no symptoms. Little is known about STDs among sexually active teenagers. Health professionals estimate that 25% to 75% of college-aged Americans carry the virus, but it is impossible to determine this without widespread random national testing. HPV is usually present in the body when cervical cancer is detected. Women with cervical cancer should be tested for HPV, and women with HPV should also be checked for an abnormal pap smear. Proper use of condoms during sex greatly reduces the transmission of HPV. Spermicides and spermicidal condoms may add further protection as they tend to destroy some of the virus in transit.

Gonorrhea or Clap
This disease became almost epidemic in the United States in the late 1970s and early 1980s and inspired the Frank Zappa song "Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?" The chart above tells you the rest. Then AIDS came along and we all now look back on the Gonorrhea panic of the Disco age, throw back a bottled water and say "good times." Seriously, folks, I've been told it hurts like a bitch and you don't want it. Untreated, it can spread past your reproductive and urinary organs and get into your bloodstream and infect your joints, heart and eyes.

Hepatitis B or HBV
There are 140,000 to 320,000 infections each year in the United States, and over 1 million Americans carry the disease. Most Americans and tourists visiting the United States are vaccinated against hepatitis B, but individuals who have neglected or resisted the vaccine, or have entered the USA without vaccination, are at high risk for acquiring and transmitting the disease. The socioeconomic groups at highest risk are the poor, immigrants and aliens who may have limited access to health information or services; and health care workers, who are frequently exposed to individuals with hepatitis B. Sexual should be avoided with individuals who have not been tested for Hepatitis B, or with individuals who may have sexual or prolonged contact with high risk groups. There is no specific treatment for the hepatitis B virus, which attacks the liver. Most often the treatment is rest with supervision and removal of complicating factors (such as drugs and alcohol, which also harm the liver). Monitoring for secondary infections and conditions is usually necessary. Hepatitis "runs its course," with a period of severe effects known as the "acute" phase, after which victims normally recover within several months. However about 10% develop permanent liver damage, liver disease or liver cancer, and about 1% die during the acute phase.

Herpes
Herpes is a very common STD, partially because half of the people carrying it and spreading it to others do not have any symptoms. Even if a herpes sore is gone, the virus lives in the nerve cells under the skin near where the sore was, or other areas. Sometimes the virus is on the surface of the skin. Herpes sores tend to reappear for shorter periods of time and with less pain over time. Herpes affects people differently--one person might only get one sore, yet another person may get many at one time. Levels of pain also vary. For some people, the blisters stop appearing, but the virus remains.
     If you have herpes, it is important that you do not touch the sore or where the sore appeared until it is completely gone. Do not allow others to touch the area either. The virus is active and on the surface of your skin from the time symptoms begin until the sore has healed and completely disappeared. Some birth control spermicides (such as nonoxynol-9) present in creams, jellies, foams and condoms containing spermicides may kill the virus during transmission, helping to protect you or your partner.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
HIV tests are used to determine if your body is creating the HIV antibody, which is what your body produces to fight the HIV virus. If you are surprised by a positive or negative test result, get tested again. A positive test indicates that you may have the virus--but test results are sometimes wrong or affected by certain substances in the body. A negative test might also be incorrect. If you test negative, this does not mean you cannot still get HIV, it only means that your immune system doesn't seem to be fighting HIV in your body at that time. Often the virus can be in your body undetected for many months. You can get HIV and still test negative many months later, and be transmitting the virus to others without knowing it.
     If you test negative for HIV, it is important to STAY negative. If you use illegal drugs, especially drugs you inject with needles, get into a drug treatment program. Never share your needles (works), but if you do, learn from your local health department the special ways to clean works to protect you from HIV. Washing your works is not enough. If you have problems with alcohol, you should join an alcohol program to help protect you from high risk situations that might occur when you're too drunk or passed out. Proper use of condoms during sex can greatly reduce the risk of getting HIV or passing it on to others. Spermicides and spermicidal condoms may give more protection. Use dry condoms or a dental dam (rubber sheet) with your partner for oral sex. Use water-based lubricants during sex (oil based lubes like Vaseline, petrolatum, baby oil, grease, mineral oil, cooking oil and butter can cause condoms to break).
     If you test positive for HIV, it is important to begin treatment as soon as possible to slow its progress. There are tests that can tell you how much HIV has already damaged your immune system. People in the United States with HIV are required by public health laws to do the following:

1. Do not have sex unless condoms (rubbers) are used;
2. Never share needles or syringes;
3. Never donate or sell blood, plasma, semen, ova (eggs), breast milk, tissues or organs;
4. Get tested for tuberculosis (TB);
5. Tell any present or future sex partners about your HIV infection;
6. Tell any people you have had sex with or shared needles with in the past year about your HIV infection so they can get tested and avoid infecting others.

BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO HAVE A BABY, TEST BOTH PARTNERS FOR HIV, SINCE THE BABY CAN GET HIV FROM THE MOTHER (OR FATHER) DURING PREGNANCY.

Syphilis
Syphilis has nicknames, such as syph, bad blood and pox. During the first stage of syphilis the sore(s) that appear, known as chankre(s), are not usually painful, and sometimes appear inside the vagina or near the anus, which may be difficult to see. Sometimes lymph glands near the sore may be swollen. Your doctor or clinic can give you a syphilis blood test to detect the disease even if you don't have symptoms. Blood tests for syphilis are required by law in many states in the USA and other countries before marriage. Pregnant women should get a syphilis blood test as early as possible to protect themselves and their babies.

Vaginitis or Trich
There are four types of vaginitis: (1) bacterial vaginosis, spread by sexual contact and other vaginal contact with bacteria; (2) trich, similar to bacterial; (3) yeast infection, spread by sexual contact, but more often from bodily conditions that favor the overgrowth of yeasts in the body; and (4) atrophic vaginitis, which is NOT caused by sexual contact, but rather an estrogen deficiency caused by menopause, lactation or hormone changes before puberty.
     It is possible to have more than one type of vaginitis at the same time. If you suspect you have vaginitis, do not douche, wash or use a deodorant spray in the vaginal area 24 hours before your exam (you don't want to hide the symptoms from the doctor). If vaginitis persists, your partner may be carrying it without symptoms and reinfecting you, in which case your partner should also see a doctor to be checked and given proper medication. The FDA has found that sulfa creams and suppositories do not work on vaginitis.
     You can help reduce the risk of developing vaginitis and other genital infections by avoiding the high risk sexual behaviors listed above, by keeping your vaginal area clean and dry (wash daily with warm water, rinse well, pat dry); wear comfortable, breathable clothing and cotton underwear (tight and nonbreathable clothing trap germs in your vagina); wipe from front to back after a bowel movement; avoid frequent use of substances that might irritate your vagina or urethra (strong soaps, deodorants, douches).