Gonorrhea: The Super Bug
Gonorrhea has been called a clever bacteria. This, due to the fact that the “bug” repeatedly is adapting to the drugs that are being used to treat it.
Instances where gonorrhea is resistant to multiple drugs started to appear in Japan, where health authorities started upping the current drug dose. Other instances of gonorrhea being a “super bug” have occurred in China, Australia, and other parts of Asia. A way doctors are counteracting this is to treat with two antibiotics at once.
Experts are still saying the best way to prevent gonorrhea, or any STD for that matter, is abstinence. If this is not an option for you, practicing safe sex is the second best way to prevent STD’s (Using condoms). So lets help fight the Super Bug that is Gonorrhea.
Chlamydia: An STD That Can Go Undetected For Years
Although chlamydia is the most common STD in the United States, it is often spread through sexual contact without any symptoms. 75 percent of females and 50 percent of males have no idea that they are carrying this disease. This is why researchers dubbed named the bacteria from the Greek word cloak.
If left untreated, this disease could prevent you from having children. Chlamydia is spreading so rapidly that doctors are urging sexually active females to be tested every six months. This is because girls are more likely to suffer the dramatic effects without knowing.
If there are symptoms, they will usually be discharge from the penis or vagina, painful urination, burning and itching around the penis, pain and swelling in the testicles, and lower abdominal pain in females.
More About Condoms
Filed under: STD Information
Although condoms are one of the safer alternative to abstinence, it appears that in a recent study that condoms are not fool proof. Condom can fail from ten percent of the time, all the way up to eighty percent when it comes to STD’s. This percentage varies with the type of STD.
More over, the STD’s HIV, genital herpes, syphilis, and HPV are spread through skin to skin contact with parts of the body that are not protected by the male or female condom. This means if you are supposedly having “safe sex” (using a condom) you are still at risk for contracting an STD with physical touch.
The best way to prevent an STD is to abstain from sex. If you are having sex, keep in mind that using a condom is not a fool proof way to not contract an STD. If you are having sex you should get tested annually.
Never Too Young
Filed under: STD Information
What is the most likely age group to get an STD? The answer is teenagers. One of the best ways to educate a teen on STD is for the parent to talk about sex and some of the possible consequences associated with it.
One of the reasons that teens are the most likely age group to catch an STD is because they are not educated on the matter. They think you can only get an STD by having sexual intercourse. This of coarse is wrong. You can contract an STD by having oral or anal sex as well as skin to skin contact with an infected area or sore.
STD’s are 100 percent preventable to teenagers. This is achieved by abstinence. Parents, don’t be afraid to talk to your teen about sex and also mention the 100% fool proof way of staying STD free: ABSTINENCE!
Drug Resistant Gonorrhea?
Filed under: Gonorrhea, News
Earlier this year, the CDC announced that the entire class of antibiotics called Fluoroquinolones should not be used to treat gonorrhea any longer. It has been this way in California since 2002. Cephalosporins are now the only recommended treatment for gonorrhea treatment.
Fluoroquinolone resistant gonorrhea was first isolated in Hawaii in 1991, but it wasn’t until 1998 that a great rise was detected in this form of gonorrhea. Now it is not recommended to treat with Fluoroquinolones at all.
Something needs to be done to help quell the spread of STD’s. When certain STD are becoming immune to treatment that were once effective, you know there is a problem. STD Education is the best bet for this. Educate young adults when they become sexually active and preach abstinence to Teens to help stop STD’s.
STD’s and Sterility
Filed under: STD Information
Are you having safe sex? Do you want to have children some day? If the answer to both questions is yes, than there is a good chance that having kids will be in your future. If the answer to the first question in no, then I have some bad news for you. Some STD’s can lead to infertility or sterility. Bacterial STD’s are the ones that can lead to sterility or infertility. These include Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis.
If you are having unprotected sex, you could be at risk of having an STD which could lead to sterility or infertility. Even if you don’t want kids now, you might change your mind in the future. Also getting tested annually is good for you overall health.