Lesson 46 Reducing the Risk of STDs and HIV

1 Reducing the Risk 46 of stds and HIV. I will choose behaviors to reduce my risk of infection with sexually transmitted diseases. I will choose behaviors to reduce my risk of HIV. infection. eople your age who are abstinent from sexual activity will not What You'll Learn 1. Discuss the causes and methods of transmission of P become infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD), a disease caused by pathogens that are transmitted from an infected person to an uninfected person during intimate sexual contact. Sexually common stds . (p. 499) transmitted diseases are also known as sexually 2. Discuss the symptoms, transmitted infections (STIs). diagnoses, and treatments of common stds . (p. 499). 3. Analyze the complications of common stds . (p. 499). 4. Analyze ways to prevent infection from stds . (p. 502). 5. Discuss the progression of HIV. infection to AIDS. (p. 504). 6. Identify treatment and prevention strategies for HIV.

2 And AIDS. (p. 508). 7. List tests used to determine the presence of HIV. (p. 512). Why It's Important You can avoid becoming infected with an STD or HIV. The infor- mation in this Lesson will help reduce your risk of being infected. Key Terms sexually transmitted disease (STD). chlamydia gonorrhea herpes genital warts Writing About AIDS The AIDS quilt above represents people who pubic lice have died of AIDS. After reading about AIDS on page 504, write an entry thrush in your health journal about the ways HIV is spread, and the ways it is Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) not spread. Then make an HIV awareness brochure, using what you wrote Western blot in your journal. HIV negative 498 UNIT 8 Communicable and Chronic Diseases Mark Burnett/Stock Boston S. ome stds are caused by types of bacteria. These stds can be cured through the use of antibiotics. However, antibiotics will not provide lifelong protection against reexposure, and a person can be reinfected with the disease.

3 In this section, you will learn the causes, methods of transmission, symptoms, and treatments of these types of stds . What to Know About Bacterial stds Chlamydia Diagnosis and treatment A physician uses a cotton swab to collect a sample Cause The most common bacterial of the discharge, which is examined in STD in the is chlamydia (kluh a laboratory for the presence of the MIH dee uh), an STD that is caused by chlamydia bacteria. Antibiotics are the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis used to treat chlamydia. Infected per- that produces inflammation of the sons must take all the prescribed reproductive organs. antibiotics, even after the symptoms Methods of transmission Chlamydia is disappear. A follow-up visit with a spread by sexual contact with an physician is necessary to be sure that infected partner. A pregnant female the infection is cured. All sex partners may pass the infection to her newborn of persons infected with chlamydia baby during delivery.

4 During delivery, should be checked and treated. the chlamydia bacteria can enter the Complications A serious infection of baby's eyes or lungs. If not treated, the the internal female reproductive baby can become blind or develop organs is called pelvic inflammatory stds The incurable pneumonia. disease (PID). Many cases occur in stds are viral, and females infected with chlamydia who Symptoms Symptoms usually appear begin with the letter had no symptoms. PID can cause a one to three weeks after exposure. H.. scarring of the Fallopian tubes, or One-half of infected males have no oviducts, which can block the tubes symptoms, but still can infect a sexual and cause sterility. To be sterile means partner. Chlamydia bacteria can con- that a person is unable to produce chil- tinue to multiply in a male who does dren. If left untreated, chlamydia also not know he is infected. Males with can cause sterility in males.

5 Symptoms may have painful urination, Ectopic pregnancy also is linked to a discharge from the penis, and pain or PID. An ectopic pregnancy, or swelling in the scrotum. tubal pregnancy, occurs when a fer- Roughly three-quarters of infected tilized egg implants in a Fallopian females have no symptoms. A female tube instead of in the uterus. This con- may not know she has chlamydia until dition results in the death of the fetus complications develop. Symptoms and can be fatal for the pregnant include a burning sensation during female. Early and continuous prena- urination and an unusual discharge tal care are important in the detection from the vagina. and treatment of any disease. Lesson 46 Reducing the Risk of stds and HIV 499. Syphilis chancre appears. Other symptoms, such as fever, tiredness, headache, Cause An STD caused by the bac- sore throat, swollen lymph glands, Terminology In this terium Treponema pallidum is and loss of weight and hair, may occur.

6 Textbook, the term syphilis. The bacterium enters the The symptoms will disappear without sexually transmitted body through tiny breaks in the treatment and may come and go dur- diseases ( stds ) is mucous membranes and then bur- used. In some health ing the next few years. People are still rows its way into the bloodstream. contagious during secondary syphilis. resources, the term sexually transmitted Methods of transmission Syphilis is Diagnosis and treatment People with infections (STIs) is spread by intimate sexual contact a suspicious skin rash or sore in the used. These terms with an infected person. The bacteria genital area should be checked by a can be used inter- also can be transmitted from a preg- physician. A blood test will detect the changeably. nant female to her fetus. presence of the bacteria that cause Symptoms The first stage of syphilis syphilis in any stage of the disease. is primary syphilis.

7 The first symp- Syphilis is treated with antibiotic tom of syphilis is a chancre. A chan- drugs, though treatment in the later cre (SHAN ker) is a painless, open stages cannot reverse the damage sore that appears at the site where done to body organs in earlier stages. the bacteria entered the body, such as Complications If secondary syphilis is the genitals or the mouth. Chancres not treated, it may become latent appear within ten days to three syphilis. Latent syphilis is a stage of months after exposure to syphilis, syphilis in which there are no symp- but may go unnoticed if inside the toms, but the bacteria are still pres- body. Though painless, chancres are ent. Latent syphilis can last for years contagious. The chancre will disap- and even for decades. Eventually, peo- pear within a few weeks whether or ple who are infected will develop late not an infected person is treated; syphilis. Late syphilis, or tertiary however, the pathogens for syphilis syphilis, is the final stage of syphilis remain in the body and the disease in which bacteria irreversibly damage progresses to secondary syphilis.

8 Body organs. Mental incapacity, blind- Secondary syphilis is character- ness, paralysis, heart disease, liver ized by a skin rash and begins any- damage, and death may occur. where from weeks to months after the If a pregnant female has syphilis, A symptom of the fetus is at risk. The pregnancy secondary syphilis is may result in a miscarriage, still- a skin rash that can birth, or fetal death. If a baby is appear on any part born to a mother with syphilis, it of the body, such as the foot. has a high risk of becoming infected with syphilis. Babies with syphilis may have birth defects, skin sores, rashes, fever, a swollen liver and spleen, yellowish skin, anemia, and are at high risk for developing men- tal retardation. 500 UNIT 8 Communicable and Chronic Diseases CNRI/Photo Researchers Color-enhanced TEM. Magnification: 12 000x Gonorrhea This magnification shows the bacteria Neisseria Cause A highly contagious STD gonorrhoeae, which cause caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhea.

9 Gonorrhoeae is gonorrhea. Gonor- rhea infects the linings of the genital and urinary tracts of males and females. Methods of transmission Gonorrhea is spread by sexual contact with an infected person. A baby born to an infected female can become infected placing a sample of the discharge on during childbirth if the bacteria a culture plate and letting it grow for enter the baby's eyes. 24 72 hours. Symptoms Males usually have a Another type of test, a nucleic acid white, milky discharge from the penis amplification test, can be done on and a burning sensation during urina- urine or discharge. This test is highly tion. They usually experience pain accurate, but not all health-care and increased urination within two to providers offer it. five days after infection, or they may Antibiotics are used to treat gonor- not have any symptoms. Whether or rhea. Some strains are resistant to cer- not symptoms are present, an infected tain antibiotics, making treatment person may still be contagious.

10 Difficult. People with gonorrhea should Many infected females have no take the full course of prescribed med- symptoms. If symptoms appear, they ication. A follow-up visit to a physician include a burning sensation during is necessary. All sex partners of urination and a yellow discharge infected people should be tested even if from the vagina that usually appear they have no symptoms. within ten days after sexual contact Most states require that the eyes of with an infected partner. newborn babies be treated with antibi- Severe symptoms, such as abdomi- otics or silver nitrate immediately nal pain, bleeding between men- after birth to prevent gonococcal infec- strual periods, vomiting, or fever, can tion of the eyes in case the mother was occur if gonorrhea is not treated. infected. Diagnosis and treatment Diagnosis of Complications The Neisseria gonor- gonorrhea is made by a microscopic rhoeae bacteria can spread into the examination of the discharge or bloodstream and infect the joints, analysis of the urine.