STIs - sexually transmitted infections - Causes, symptoms and treatment. MF.

Sexually Transmitted Infections( STIs) or Sexually Transmitted Diseases( STDs) are a group of diseases whose main transmission path is through sexual contacts. They are divided into:

1) microbial, such as gonorrhea, syphilis,
2) protozoal infections( unicellular) - trichomoniasis,
3) viral-herpes, hepatitis B, C, HIV.Separately, I want to single out diseases where the sexual way of transmission is frequent( scabies, molluscum contagiosum, the same herpes, pubic pediculosis, hepatitis).

According to the order of the Ministry of Health, a part of sexually transmitted infections is classified into a separate heading - "Venereal diseases".There are only 5 of them: gonorrhea, syphilis, donovanosis, mild chancroid, venereal lymphogranuloma. The last three are most often found in countries with a tropical climate, but given the openness of the borders, they must also be remembered.

Symptoms of STIs

When can you still suspect a sexually transmitted disease? I conditionally divide all the symptoms into internal and external, which we will see on our skin. If we talk about the first group of symptoms, it is: deterioration of the condition, pain in the muscles, a rise in temperature, that is, all that we see with a common cold. All this is observed with such diseases as viral hepatitis, HIV infection. Very often, patients start to heal independently, launching the course of infection, ignoring the call of the local doctor to the house( much better) or going to the polyclinic, for which they are "secured".It is easier to treat the infection in an unopened state, it is easier to avoid complications.

With such diseases as gonorrhea and trichomoniasis there are rez when urinating, itching in the urethra, discharge. While the discharge can be purulent( yellow), as well as transparent. It should be remembered: urogenital infections( genitourinary) often asymptomatic and manifest themselves as complications, with infections such as chlamydia, mycoplasmosis, ureaplasmosis. Hidden very often occurs and trichomoniasis, which is present in 80% of cases with gynecological pathology. Trichomoniasis is a scourge of urogenital infections. Understand, if there are no complaints, then a person does not consult a doctor, and we identify the disease already in the advanced stage.

Therefore, if you have any God revealed chronic prostatitis( inflammation of the prostate gland in men), erosion( defect) of the cervix or leukoplakia, the degeneration of cells on it( incidentally, a precancerous condition), inflammation of the fallopian tubes, ovaries,infertility is a direct way for treatment and for a dermatovenerologist for testing for sexually transmitted infections.

Referring to manifestations on the skin, of course you need to remember about such a disease as syphilis. It is not for nothing that it is called the "monkey of all diseases".Mass of conditions, "parodies" this infection."Jazvochka"( hard chancre) at the contact site, appearing 3-5 weeks after sexual intercourse with a sick person, painless, often taken for herpes or simply missed. In the future, as the disease develops, it disappears, the process goes into a neglected form. Very often the chancre is treated with a soapy solution with a toilet of external genital organs, and soap has a harmful effect on the causative agent of syphilis, but in this case only "superficially".Shankr disappears, diagnosis is difficult, imaginary well-being appears, and the infection inside the body, meanwhile, affects all organs and systems: the nervous, bone, gastrointestinal tract. .. You've probably heard of such complications as "nasal contusion?" Frequent localization of chancre -this is the inner flap of the foreskin in men and the lower adhesion of the large labia in women closer to the anus. You should also pay attention to the condition of the inguinal lymph nodes: they are enlarged.

In genital herpes, the "sore" is painful, the person complainsand the feeling of "burning." Incidentally, the presence of genital herpes, and especially its frequent relapses, is a direct indication for a test for HIV and urogenital infections.

A rash on the body can be accompanied by itching, such as scabies( rashes on thin areas of the skin: interdigitalgaps in the abdomen, halos of the nipples in women), and no, as with the syphilis I mentioned, it is a patchy roseoseous rash on the lateral sections of the trunk, without subjective sensations( even during the secondary period), and also on the palms, soles, mucous membranes of the moutholosti, language.

It is impossible not to mention such a disease as fthiracy or pubic pediculosis. Pubic louse looks like a grain of 1-2 mm gray-brown color. Infection occurs during sexual intercourse, sharing a bed, clothes. Parasitizes on all areas of the skin where there is hair, except for the scalp, on which it lays eggs( nits) and it is accompanied by severe itching. The most frequent localization is the pubic region. When combing, skin damage occurs, and this is the direct route to infection and the appearance of pustular diseases. As you understand, you need to immediately register for an appointment with a dermatovenerologist.

Many STIs can be transmitted from mother to child. In a pregnant woman, germs and viruses that cause STIs can disrupt the normal course of pregnancy. A child can get infected while in the womb, during labor and during lactation. Infection can cause serious harm to the health of the baby.

Examination for STIs

If you talk about how quickly you need to see a doctor after accidental sexual intercourse, I'll tell you so: "The faster, the better."It is very good if the doctor conducts active prophylaxis for you - treatment of external and internal genital organs, preventive administration of antibiotics and antimicrobials.

This can shorten the duration of treatment and prevent a lot of complications. Do not forget to consult a doctor and with preventive examinations, take tests, which are now mass. With such diseases as syphilis, hepatitis, HIV is blood. When urogenital infections are strokes that are taken in the same way, they are "looked" differently. This is the detection of the pathogen in the "fresh" material( microscopic examination of the smear), the painting of the smear, when the pathogen becomes clearly visible, and the crops, if the number of pathogens is small, then they grow on nutrient media, and it is more easily detected under the microscope.

A microscopic examination of the smear can produce reliable results only when the infection is fresh. If the disease is triggered, such an analysis can show nothing. In such cases, methods are used: bacteriological culture, detection of specific regions of the pathogen DNA( PCR method), blood tests aimed at detecting the pathogen itself or antibodies to it in the blood. In most cases, for a reliable diagnosis of STIs, several different studies are needed.

If a person has unprotected sexual contact, and even if there are no painful manifestations, MUST consult a doctor!

Treatment of STIs

In the treatment of STIs in the arsenal of a doctor, a mass of antibiotics, antimicrobials, but it is always more difficult to treat neglected forms and associated infections. In the people there is a myth "about some one pill that will cure everything", but this is only a fairy tale. There is no such pill, and I think that in the near future will not appear.

If a person has several infections, you have to take complex medications or combine them. Such conditions are treated worse, complications occur more quickly. For example, the combination of gonorrhea and trichomoniasis leads very often to abscesses( purulent lesions) of the prostate gland, uterus, appendages, ovaries that are treated surgically. With trichomoniasis, it is easier to "get" HIV infection, because local immunity suffers, and mobile Trichomonases carry the viruses of immunodeficiency.

It is absolutely necessary to treat STIs. Until today, there has been no case of spontaneous cure for any sexually transmitted disease. Do not think that if the symptoms have disappeared, then the illness has passed. The disease can go to a chronic stage and proceed without symptoms. This latent course of the disease is dangerous, as serious complications can arise. In addition, without knowing about his illness, a person leads a habitual way of life and can transmit the disease to others. No less dangerous and self-treatment with random medications. In this case, the cure, as a rule, does not occur, the disease passes into a chronic form and is even more difficult to treat. If there are suspicions of STI, then only a specialist - gynecologist, urologist or dermatovenerologist - can help.

Only an early referral to a doctor and thorough implementation of all medical recommendations can guarantee a full recovery from an .

Doctor Venereologist Mansurov AS