Pelvic Inflammatory Disease- usually women are afflicted by this disease. It is a an infection in the upper genital tract and reproductive organs including ovaries, uterus and fallopian tubes.

• Spreads through- Chlamydia and Gonorrhea are the two STDs that are most often responsible for this disease. Women between 15 to 25 years of age are more prone to be infected by it. Excess douching can also lead to PID for it cleanses the naturally beneficial bacteria from the women’s vagina.

• Symptoms- When ailing PID, women might experience pain during intercourse, burning and even fever.

• Precautions and Cures- antibiotics are useful to cure PID. But it is recommended to get frequent check ups done and in case the disease is discovered medicines and proper treatment should commence the very moment for PID can be unexpectedly harmful in later stages.

Using a condom is the best way to avoid becoming infected with HIV (the AIDs virus) and other STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases). Here are some things you should know about condoms and STDs.

Some facts about sexually transmitted diseases

Having sexual intercourse with an infected person is the most common way of becoming infected. A large percentage of those infected are teenagers or young adults. Your risk of becoming infected increases when you change sexual partners. There may be no symptoms soon after infection. Symptoms may be easily confused with other illnesses.
Symptoms of STDs – See a doctor if you have any of these
Pain or burning during urination and/or intercourse. Discharge from the vagina, penis and/or rectum. Pain in the abdomen (women), testicles (men), and buttocks and legs (both). Sores, Blisters, warts, rash, swelling in the genital area, or mouth. Fever headache, aching muscles, swollen glands.
Who should use a condom to prevent infection from STDs?

Anyone who takes part in risky sexual activity should wear a condom. The highest risk comes from having intercourse –vaginal, anal or oral — with a person who has a sexually transmitted disease. If you have sex with an infected person, you’re taking a big chance. The best defence is to never have sex with an infected person. If you decide to have sex with an infected partner, you should ALWAYS use a condom from start to finish, every time.

Will using a condom guarantee I won’t get a sexually transmitted disease?

Most experts agree that the risk of getting AIDS [http://www.linknet-columns.com/articles-05/health/article-2.php] and other STDs can be greatly reduced if a condom is used properly. But you can never be 100% guaranteed not to become infected. And certainly condoms are much better than any other contraceptive alternative.

How does a condom protect against sexually transmitted diseases?

A condom is a barrier that prevents the transfer of bodily fluids between partners. If no condom is used, the germs can pass from the infected partner to the uninfected partner.

How do I choose the best condom to prevent STDs?

Read the label. Tests have shown that latex condoms can prevent the passage of STDs while natural (lambskin) condoms may not do this. The package should say that the condoms are effective in preventing disease. If the package doesn’t say anything about preventing disease, the condoms may not provide the protection you want, even though they may be the most expensive ones you can buy.

Novelty condoms will not say anything about either disease prevention or pregnancy prevention on the package. They are intended only for sexual stimulation, not protection.

Condoms which do not cover the entire penis are not labeled for disease prevention and should not be used for this purpose. For proper protection, a condom must unroll to cover the entire penis. This is another good reason to read the label carefully.

What kind of safeguards do condom manufacturers have in place?

All brand name condoms are subjected to rigorous quality control tests at every stage of the manufacturing process. In the US, each condom is electronically tested for holes and defects. Samples are taken from each lot and visually examined using a water leak test. In this test the samples are filled with 300 ml of water and suspended for 3 minutes.

Samples from each lot are also subjected to an Air Inflation Test. This involves filling the test condoms with air until they reach the bursting point. They typically will hold about 40 liters of air — the equivalent of 9 gallons of water!

Other samples are checked for size and thickness, some are tested to destruction for physical strength, and still others are artificially aged by applying high temperatures to ensure that they will retain their quality well beyond their 5 year product life.

Are condoms from vending machines any good?

Using condoms from a vending machine may be risky. The fact is you can’t be sure you are getting a quality latex condom from a vending machine. It may also not be designed (and labelled) for disease prevention, so you may not get the maximum protection. If the vending machine condom contains a spermicide you have no way of knowing if it is outdated. And if the machine is exposed to extreme temperatures and direct sunlight these can easily have an adverse effect on the condoms.

Where should I buy condoms?

The best advice is to buy from a reputable source that deals only in name brand products. If you are buying online, make sure the website features a broad range of name brand condoms, contains helpful information about condom alternatives, and is reachable by phone so you can talk to a real person.

Anal sex is more dangerous than vaginal, since the very thin tissues of anus and rectum can be easily harmed during sex activities. Even minor damages can turn into “open gates” for a variety of bacteria and viruses, together with HIV. Anal sex does require some definite safety measures. First of all, any partners who perform anal sex should be responsive of the inevitability of using a condom. The condom must be put on appropriately; or else it does not offer consistent security. Users should remember that oil-based lubricants can harm latex. For this reason water-based oils should be used for anal sex. Those who have antipathy to latex should think about use of non-latex condoms, for example polyurethane condoms that are matching with both oil-based and water-based lubricants.

There’s no question as to the fact that sexually-transmitted diseases are on the rise with many cases being reported among teenagers. These diseases which range from the very serious to the not-so-serious have the potential to cause serious health complications and even death. One of the most overlooked sexual disease is chlamydia, which in the US afflicts over 1 million people annually. The rapid spread of Chlamydia has been attributed to the fact that the disease can lay dormant and without symptoms.

Effects

Chlamydia, which is one of the most overlooked sexually-transmitted disease, can have serious ramifications to one’s overall health. In many cases, the sufferer will not even know they have the disease and this is what helps the disease spread so rapidly. It is said that over 75% of the women who have this malady do not even know it and there are no outward signs signaling the presence of the disease. That is why the rate of chlamydia has been on the rise for almost 10 years in a row. One of the most horrifying statistics regarding this disease is that recent research shows that sufferers are 5 times more likely to contract HIV than non-sufferers.

Another noticeable characteristic of the disease is that sufferers may notice an inflammation of the rectum, a condition clinically known as Proctitis. It is also not uncommon for people with chlamydia to find themselves with an inflamation of the cervix and even experience some vaginal discharge.

Men with chlamydia may also notice a small penile discharge which may or may not be heavy depending on the seriousness of the infection. Females may also experience a discharge accompanied by painful urination.

What is chlamydia?

Chlamydia is caused by small parasites, usually obligate intracellular, which contain some DNA, some protein strands and some nucleic acid. They also possess bacteria-like qualities such as an inner and an outer membrane. This arrangement closely resembles another virus which causes the dreaded gonorrhea disease. Gonorrhea, like chlamydia, has also been on the rise. It is therefore not uncommon to see doctors treating chlamydia patients for gonorrhea as well.

Treatment

The good news is that chalmydia is highly treatable. If detected early, it can be combated using a variety of ways one of which is antibiotics. The bad news about chlamydia is that is can stay silent and cause the person to unknowingly infect others especially if they have multiple sexual partners. Another draw back with the disease is that, contrary to popular belief that once someone has contracted it they can never get it again, chlamydia can attack again even if the person has been fully cured before.

Trichomoniasis can usually be cured with prescription drugs, either metronidazole or tinidazole, given by mouth in a single dose. The symptoms of trichomoniasis in infected men may disappear within a few weeks without treatment. However, an infected man, even a man who has never had symptoms or whose symptoms have stopped, can continue to infect or re-infect a female partner until he has been treated. Therefore, both partners should be treated at the same time to eliminate the parasite. Persons being treated for trichomoniasis should avoid sex until they and their sex partners complete treatment and have no symptoms. Metronidazole can be used by pregnant women.

Having trichomoniasis once does not protect a person from getting it again. Following successful treatment, people can still be susceptible to re-infection.

Source: cdc.gov

Genital herpes is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in America. In some cases it can be accompanied by painful outbreaks and a diagnosis may create many emotional ramifications. Once a person finds out they have herpes, they can decide if treatment is a feasible option for them to look into.

Some people never have herpes outbreaks, and ma decide to bypass a treatment regiment. But for the people who do experience outbreaks and if these outbreaks are frequent, long-lasting and/or very painful, finding out about different kinds of treatments is a good idea. Treatment proves helpful in the management of physical symptoms and when the physical symptoms of genital herpes are alleviated, much of the emotional stress associated with the virus is alleviated as well, then people who have the virus can lead lives that are not dictated by their herpes diagnosis.

A physician may prescribe doses of oral antivirals, designed to shorten the life of an initial outbreak and decrease severity of recurrences. People who experience numerous outbreaks can take oral antivirals daily for up to one year to decrease virus activity and prevent recurrences.

However, a more cost-effective, successful and easily accessible way to treat herpes is with nutraceuticals – or herbal treatments. There are many benefits to taking herbal treatments for herpes.

One of the main reasons a person may choose to opt for natural treatment for herpes is the fact that the ingredients in natural treatments are indeed, natural. They were not produced in a lab and often do not carry the side effects associated with prescription drugs. And many nutraceutical treatments for herpes and other conditions offer money-back guarantees if you are not pleased with their results.

Another reason natural treatments are a good choice in herpes management is that they are more cost-effective than prescription drugs. In a time when health insurance is scarce and a person needs relief from their herpes outbreaks, a natural treatment is a great choice.

And since discussing genital herpes with a physician may be difficult, or if you want to keep your condition confidential, many nutraceutical products are available without going to a doctor for a prescription. You can easily manage your herpes condition successfully and cost-efficiently.

In addition to treating herpes with medication-pharmaceutical or nutraceutical-here are some additional things that you can do to keep your genital herpes outbreaks under control:

Ways You Can Treat Genital Herpes

* Wash the genital area in a salt bath. This cleans, soothes and dries the sores.

* Take pain relievers and simple analgesics (i.e. aspirin), apply ice directly on infection and use creams that have an anaesthetic component. Keep in mind that creams may slow down drying and should only be used sporadically for pain relief.

* Wear loose underclothes, preferably cotton (avoid nylon), to reduce pain associated with outbreaks.

* For people who have painful urination, drink lots of fluids, because this dilutes urine and reduces pain.

Regardless of the treatment method you choose, it is important to always maintain other healthy lifestyle practices like getting adequate sleep, avoiding stressful situations, eating a balanced diet and following safe sex practices. When a person who has genital herpes engages in a healthy lifestyle and takes the proper safe sex precautions and undergoes some type of treatment regiment, the chances of genital herpes affecting his/her life are reduced greatly.

Gonorrhea, also spelt gonorrhoea (and once known as the clap), is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrheoae. It affects both men and women and can infect the cervix, urethra, rectum, anus and throat. Gonorrhea is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Global gonorrhea statistics show that an estimated 62.35 million cases of gonorrhea occur each year, affecting more women than men. Gonorrhea is easily curable but if left untreated it can cause serious health problems such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which can lead to abdominal pain and ectopic pregnancy in women. Untreated, gonorrhea can also lead to infertility, meningitis and septicaemia.

Symptoms of gonorrhea infection may appear 1 to 14 days after exposure, although it is possible to be infected with gonorrhea and have no symptoms. Men are far more likely to notice symptoms as they are more apparent. It is estimated that nearly half of the women who become infected with gonorrhea experience no symptoms, or have non-specific symptoms such as a bladder infection.

Gonorrhea symptoms can include:

Women:
a change in vaginal discharge. It may appear in abundance, change to a yellow or greenish colour, and develop a strong smell.
a burning sensation or pain whilst passing urine.
irritation and/or discharge from the anus.

Men:
a white or yellow discharge from the penis.
irritation and/or discharge from the anus.
inflammation of the testicles and/or prostate gland.

Source: Avert.org

There is an array of different sexually transmitted diseases that are becoming more commonly transmitted in this day and age. One of these sexually transmitted diseases that is rather taking center stage today is chlamydia. Chlamydia is becoming fairly common amongst sexually active people who have multiple partners. With this in mind, if you are sexually active, it is important for you to have a basic understanding of chlamydia. Through this article, you are provided the basic information that you need in order to better understand this sexually transmitted disease.

In the United States alone, nearly 3 million new cases of Chlamydia infection are reported each and every year. Chlamydia is one of the common of the sexually transmitted diseases in the world today.

Many people with Chlamydia show no symptoms at all and do not know that they are infected. If left untreated, Chlamydia can lead to serious health complications. Internationally, Chlamydia is one of the leading causes of blindness. The reality is that Chlamydia can easily be treated with antibiotics.

About 50% of the women infected with Chlamydia will end up with pelvic inflammatory disease. A significant number of women do not find out that they have Chlamydia until such time as they have been infected for an extended period of time. Women with Chlamydia are five times more likely to contract HIV if they are exposed to that particular infection than those women who do not have Chlamydia and are exposed.

Men with Chlamydia tend to end up with an infected urethra or an infected prostate. In rare instances Chlamydia can lead to sterility in men.

Over the course of the past six years, lab tests used to detect Chlamydia have become far more effective. However, while lab tests have become more effective, many people still do not realize they have the disease due to the lack of symptoms in many instances. Therefore, as will be discussed in a moment, regular testing for Chlamydia should be sought if you are sexually active.

Doctors now recommend that is a person is sexually active he or she should be tested for different sexually transmitted diseases, including Chlamydia. There is no specific protocol for men to be tested. However, when it comes to pregnancy women, medical experts maintain that all pregnant women should be tested for Chlamydia. Chlamydia can spread to a baby during child birth.

The best defense against Chlamydia if you are sexually active is using a condom during sexual encounters. The regular and proper use of a condom can be very effective in preventing the spread of Chlamydia as well as other sexually transmitted diseases. If you think you have been exposed to Chlamydia or any other sexually transmitted disease, you need to see your doctor immediately.

Human trials have been conducted in Ghana using a new recently patented advanced colloidal silver solution against Malaria. Not only was this advanced colloidal silver very successful against the malaria, but as a side effect it showed outstanding results against Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Urinary Tract Infections (also skin infections and parasites). American Biotech Labs the manufacture, supplied about 1000 bottles of the advanced silver solution for the trial which was conducted across 4 clinics/hospitals in Ghana.

The Ghanaian human trial results support a number of American laboratory trials which resulted in the new patent in 2006 for this advanced silver solution (all other colloidal silvers are made to the 1924 patent). In order to receive a patent, a new product or technology must be demonstrated and the claims made the patent need to have evidence to support them.

The 2006 patent for the advanced colloidal silver makes claim that it exhibits antimicrobial properties against microbes from groups consisting of vaginal infections gonorrhea, urinary tract infections, trichomonas vaginalis and Candida albicans.

This is not simply manufacturer’s hype as it has been independently validated by the US Patent Office, due to the amount of evidence presented.

Under laboratory conditions, the Patent claims that it can kill venereal and urinary diseases at very low concentrations of the silver suspension in water.

Killed Infection At Parts Per Million (ppm)

Urinary Tract Infection (E. coli) 2.5 ppm

Urinary Tract Infection (Klebsiella pneumoniae) 2.5 pp

Urinary Tract Infection (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) 5.0 ppm

Urinary Tract Infection (Streptococcus faecalis) 2.5 ppm

Urinary Tract Infection (Enterobacter aerpyogenes) 2.5 ppm

Urinary Tract Infection (E. coli) 2.5 ppm

Vaginitis Trichomonas vaginalis 10.0 ppm

Yeast Infections Candida albicans 10.0 ppm

However, the Ghanaian trial is the icing on the cake being an actually documented human trials. The patent states:
“The studies in this section were performed in Ghana, West Africa, at the Air Force Station Hospital under the direction of Dr. Kwabiah, at the Korie-Bu Teaching Hospital under the direction of Sr. Sackey, and at the Justab Clinic/Maternity Hospital under the direction of Dr. Abraham. In total, fifty-eight (58) patients were treated using a composition of the present invention comprising 10 ppm silver. The composition was used both internally and externally as an alternative to traditional antibiotics. The ailments treated included malaria, upper respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections, sinusitis, vaginal yeast infections, eye, nose and ear infections, cuts, fungal skin infections, and sexually transmitted diseases, such as gonorrhea”.

However, despite both the laboratory trials and actual human trials providing copious amounts of evidence as to its effectiveness and safety, the advanced silver solution cannot yet be prescribed as a cure for sexually transmitted diseases and urinary tract infections. Before that can happen it has yet to be authorized for that use by the FDA (or other countries equivalent) which is a long and expensive process.

Most do not think of sexually transmitted diseases when they consider children. Unhappily, our kids do experience harmful effects from adults who catch sexually transmitted diseases. For example, a child, through accidental contact with diseased tissue, could be exposed to the HPV, as in childbirth.

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is a cause of cancer of the cervix; it needs to be taken seriously by both those who are active sexually, and those who at risk for sexually transmitted diseases and are pregnant or may become pregnant.

Another rare disease caused by HPV infection Laryngeal papillomatosis. The 2 types of virus that are linked with this disease are HPV 6 and HPV 11. With this disease, growths or warts grow quickly and are varied in size; they can grow in number and size until affectively blocking the air passageway. It may become hard for a child to breathe when sleeping and difficulty in swallowing may also be experienced.

HPV is exceptionally contagious via skin-to-skin contact in addition to sexual contact. The one noticeable sign of infection is the appearance of genital warts, not all of which can be seen, especially in infected women. Warts will emerge within 3 months of HPV infection.

In pregnancy, the immune system is lowered, causing a pregnant woman to be more susceptible to viral infections such as HPV. This in turn causes genital warts during pregnancy to grow even quicker and larger.

If your baby should become infected with HPV during the passage through the vagina during delivery, there may appear genital warts or there may be warts on the throat which is known as laryngeal papillomatosis.

Laryngeal papillomatosis is a rare disease that is caused by HPV infection. The two types of virus that are associated with this disease are: HPV 6 and HPV 11. The growths or warts from this disease grow rapidly and vary in size. When they grow in number and size they may effectively block the air passageway. This makes it difficult for your child to breathe when sleeping and they can also experience difficulty in swallowing.

Two tests are available to establish whether your child is suffering from this disease or not. The first is called Indirect Laryngoscopy. This is an in-office procedure conducted by a speech pathologist or a family doctor. A small mirror is placed in the back of the throat to examine the larynx area.

The other test is Direct Laryngoscopy; this is performed in an operating room under general anesthesia. This lets the doctor view directly the vocal cord folds and supplementary parts of the larynx under high magnification. Tissue biopsy may also be taken during the procedure to identify the existence of HPV.

All of this can be avoided with the proper precautions, the most effective of which is inoculation with the HPV vaccine.