Jul 05 2011

STDS TODAY

Category: HIV — Stephanie @ 8:40 am

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) affect men and women of all backgrounds and economic levels. CDC estimates that 19 million new infections occur each year, almost half of them among young people ages 15 to 24 (1). For testing visit http://www.stdweb.com/Menu.htm.

Despite the fact that STDs are extremely widespread and add an estimated $14.7 billion to the nation’s healthcare costs each year (2), most people in the United States remain unaware of the risk and consequences of all but the most prominent STD—HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Common STDs and the Organisms That Cause Them.
Many people are aware of the most prominent STD—HIV. However, many other STDs affect millions of men and women each year. Many of these STDs initially cause no symptoms, especially in women. When symptoms develop, they may be confused with those of other diseases that are not transmitted through sexual contact. STDs can still be transmitted from person to person even if they do not show symptoms. Furthermore, health problems caused by STDs tend to be more severe for women than for men.

Below is a descriptions of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Come back each day to learn more about other STD’s! Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first reported in the United States in 1981. AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a virus that destroys the body’s ability to fight off infection. People who have AIDS are very susceptible to many life-threatening diseases, called opportunistic infections, and to certain forms of cancer. Transmission of the virus primarily occurs during unprotected sexual activity and by sharing needles used to inject intravenous drugs.

What Are Some Health Risks of STD Infection?
STDs can result in irreparable lifetime damage for infants infected by their mothers during gestation or birth, including blindness, bone deformities, mental retardation, and death.
In women, STDs can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), infertility, potentially fatal ectopic pregnancies, and cancer of the reproductive tract.

What Is Being Done?
Prevention—both biomedical and behavioral—is the best hope for reducing or eliminating STDs.
As the lead agency for STD prevention in the United States, CDC is tasked with providing national leadership through research, policy development, and support of effective services to prevent STDs (including HIV infection) and their complications, such as enhanced HIV transmission, infertility, adverse outcomes of pregnancy, and reproductive tract cancer. The Division of STD Prevention, part of CDC’s National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, coordinates CDC’s STD prevention efforts.

Source CDC:
1 CDC. Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the United States, 2008: National Surveillance Data for Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and Syphilis. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2009. [cited 2010 March 18]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats08/trends.htm.
2 CDC. Trends in Reportable Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the United States, 2006. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2008. [cited 2008 Dec 2]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats06/trends2006.htm.
3 CDC. Genital HPV Infection. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2009. [cited 2010 March 19]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm.
4 CDC. Syphilis. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2008. [cited 2008 Dec 2]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/STDFact-Syphilis.htm.
5 CDC, Trends in Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the United States, 2009: National Data for Gonorrhea, Chlamydia and Syphilis. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2010. [cited 2011 March 2]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats09/trends.htm.
6 CDC. Disease Burden from Viral Hepatitis A, B, and C in the United States. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2010. [cited 2011 March 2]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/Statistics/index.htm.
7 CDC. Trichomoniasis. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2007. [cited 2010 Mar 31]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/std/trichomonas/STDFact-Trichomoniasis.htm.
8 CDC. Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, 2009: STDS in Racial and Ethnic Minorities. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2010. [cited 2011 March 2]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats09/minorities.htm.

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Nov 29 2010

Federal Ban on Gay Men’s Blood Donation to Be Reconsidered

Category: Miscellanea — Stephanie @ 9:25 am

A lifting of the lifetime ban on blood donations from gay men is being urged by activists, blood organizations, and several US senators in advance of the policy’s next federal review.

The US Federal Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability is scheduled to take up the issue when it meets June 10 and 11 in Rockville, Md. The committee advises the US Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Calls for easing the lifetime ban against blood donation by men who have sex with men (MSM) have come from the Human Rights Campaign, the American Red Cross, America’s Blood Centers, and AABB (formerly the American Association of Blood Banks). The first priority of blood donation is safety, the blood groups said in a joint statement, while also asserting that potential donors should be screened more fairly, independent of sexual orientation. Go to http://www.stdweb.com for testing services.

FDA’s policy is “outdated,” 18 US senators said in a letter to the agency in March. They noted that while gay men have a lifetime exclusion from donating blood, a heterosexual who has had sexual contact with a prostitute can donate blood after a one-year waiting period.

FDA affirmed its policy during reviews in 2000 and 2006. In a statement e-mailed to CNN, FDA defended its current policy as “based on scientific data that show that certain medical, behavioral, and geographic factors are associated with increased risk of transfusion-transmitted diseases.”

The hemophilia community, some members of which received HIV-tainted blood products before effective screening techniques were developed, remains wary about a proposed relaxation of the ban.

“We readily recognize the MSM ban is discriminatory, but it’s discriminatory for a reason,” said World Federation of Hemophilia spokesperson Mark Skinner.

“What we’re looking for is a thoughtful review. We’re not opposed to the change. We want to understand what additional risk patients might be asked to accept,” Skinner said.
Source: CNN.com

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Oct 12 2010

Chemical in Bananas Might Combat HIV Infection

Category: HIV — Cara @ 9:30 am

Study found it was as potent as two current HIV drugs, could be added to vaginal microbicides. A natural chemical in bananas may help protect women against sexual transmission of HIV, U.S. researchers report.
In laboratory tests, they found that a lectin called BanLec was as potent as two current HIV drugs. Lectins — sugar-binding proteins found in plants — can identify and attach to foreign invaders. By binding to the sugar-rich HIV-1 envelope protein gp120, BanLec blocks HIV’s entry into the body.

The finding, published in the March 19 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, suggests that BanLec could become a less expensive and highly effective new component of vaginal microbicides, according to the University of Michigan Medical School researchers.

“The problem with some HIV drugs is that the virus can mutate and become resistant, but that’s much harder to do in the presence of lectins,” study author Michael D. Swanson, a doctoral student in the graduate program in immunology, said in a news release from the school. “Lectins can bind to the sugars found on different spots of the HIV-1 envelope, and presumably it will take multiple mutations for the virus to get around them.”

Learn more and get HIV tested at http://www.stdweb.com.

SOURCE: University of Michigan, news release, March 15, 2010

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Oct 08 2010

What are the symptoms of Genital Herpes?

Category: Herpes — Stephanie @ 9:29 am

Many people with genital herpes don’t know it because they never have any symptoms, or they do not recognize any symptoms they might have. When there are symptoms, they can be different in each person. To get tested for herpes go to http://www.stdweb.com/herpes-testing/herpes-type1and2-testing-herpes-testing-comprehensive-igg-igm.htm.

Usually, when a person becomes infected with herpes for the first time, the symptoms will appear within 2 to 10 days. These first episodes of symptoms usually last 2 to 3 weeks. Early symptoms of a genital herpes outbreak include
• Itching or burning feeling in the genital or anal area
• Pain in the legs, buttocks, or genital area
• Discharge of fluid from the vagina
• Feeling of pressure in the abdomen

Within a few days, sores appear near where the virus has entered the body, such as on the mouth, penis, or vagina. They also can occur inside the vagina and on the cervix in women, or in the urinary passage of women and men. Small red bumps appear first, develop into blisters, and then become painful open sores. Over several days, the sores become crusty and then heal without leaving a scar.

Other symptoms that may go with the first episode of genital herpes are fever, headache, muscle aches, painful or difficult urination, vaginal discharge, and swollen glands in the groin area. For a comprehensive Herpes test get tested at http://www.stdweb.com/herpes-testing/herpes-type1and2-testing-herpes-testing-comprehensive-igg-igm.htm.

Source: CDC

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Oct 05 2010

PROMISE: A Program to Reduce HIV Infection

Category: Miscellanea — Stephanie @ 5:33 pm

In January 2010, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced the start of a new large, multinational clinical trial called the PROMISE (“Promoting Maternal-Infant Survival Everywhere”) study. To get tested go to http://www.stdweb.com/hiv-testing/.
The trial will help determine how best to reduce the risk of HIV transmission from infected pregnant women to their babies during pregnancy and breastfeeding while preserving the health of these children and their mothers.
To read more click here http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2010/pages/promise.aspx.
Source: NIAID January 21, 2010

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Jul 15 2010

World Hepatitis Day is July 28, 2010

Category: Hepatitis — Stephanie @ 9:26 am

Viral hepatitis is a disease that kilss more than one (1) million people a year!
Member States accepted the report to the World Health Assembly and adopted a resolution including a World Hepatitis Day on 28 July. Viral hepatitis (i.e. hepatitis A, B, C, D and E) — a combination of diseases that are estimated to kill over 1 million people each year and an estimated 1 in 12 persons are currently infected and have to face a life with liver disease if unrecognized. This endorsement by Member States calls for WHO to develop a comprehensive approach to the prevention and control of these diseases. Get tested for Hepatitis at http://www.stdweb.com.
Source: World Health Organization

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Jun 30 2010

What are the symptoms, complications, & treatment of Chlamydia?

Category: Chlamydia — Stephanie @ 1:52 pm

Chlamydia is known as a “silent” disease because the majority of infected people have no symptoms. If symptoms do occur, they usually appear within 1 to 3 weeks after exposure.

Get tested for Chlamydia.

In women, the bacteria initially infect the cervix and the urethra (urine canal). Women who have symptoms might have an abnormal vaginal discharge or a burning sensation when urinating.

If the infection spreads from the cervix to the fallopian tubes (tubes that carry fertilized eggs from the ovaries to the uterus), some women still have no signs or symptoms; others have lower abdominal pain, low back pain, nausea, fever, pain during intercourse, or bleeding between menstrual periods. Chlamydial infection of the cervix can spread to the rectum.

Men with signs or symptoms might have a discharge from their penis or a burning sensation when urinating. Men might also have burning and itching around the opening of the penis. Pain and swelling in the testicles are uncommon.

Men or women who have receptive anal intercourse may acquire chlamydial infection in the rectum, which can cause rectal pain, discharge, or bleeding. Chlamydia can also be found in the throats of women and men having oral sex with an infected partner.

What complications can result from untreated Chlamydia?If untreated, chlamydial infections can progress to serious reproductive and other health problems with both short-term and long-term consequences. Like the disease itself, the damage that chlamydia causes is often “silent.” To get tested go to .

In women, untreated infection can spread into the uterus or fallopian tubes and cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). This happens in about 10 to 15 percent of women with untreated chlamydia. Chlamydia can also cause fallopian tube infection without any symptoms. PID and “silent” infection in the upper genital tract can cause permanent damage to the fallopian tubes, uterus, and surrounding tissues. The damage can lead to chronic pelvic pain, infertility, and potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside the uterus). Chlamydia may also increase the chances of becoming infected with HIV, if exposed.

Complications among men are rare. Infection sometimes spreads to the epididymis (the tube that carries sperm from the testis), causing pain, fever, and, rarely, sterility. Rarely, genital chlamydial infection can cause arthritis that can be accompanied by skin lesions and inflammation of the eye and urethra (Reiter’s syndrome).

What is the treatment for Chlamydia?Chlamydia can be easily treated and cured with antibiotics. A single dose of azithromycin or a week of doxycycline (twice daily) are the most commonly used treatments. HIV-positive persons with chlamydia should receive the same treatment as those who are HIV negative.

All sex partners should be evaluated, tested, and treated. Persons with chlamydia should abstain from sexual intercourse until they and their sex partners have completed treatment, otherwise re-infection is possible.

Women whose sex partners have not been appropriately treated are at high risk for re-infection. Having multiple infections increases a woman’s risk of serious reproductive health complications, including infertility. Retesting should be encouraged three months after treatment of an initial infection. This is especially true if a woman does not know if her sex partner received treatment.
Get tested for Chlamydia

Source: CDC

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Jun 29 2010

What are the signs and symptoms of syphilis?

Category: Miscellanea — Stephanie @ 1:48 pm

Many people infected with syphilis do not have any symptoms for years, yet remain at risk for late complications if they are not treated. Although transmission occurs from persons with sores who are in the primary or secondary stage, many of these sores are unrecognized. Thus, transmission may occur from persons who are unaware of their infection.

Get tested for Syphilis.

Syphilis Primary Stage

The primary stage of syphilis is usually marked by the appearance of a single sore (called a chancre), but there may be multiple sores. The time between infection with syphilis and the start of the first symptom can range from 10 to 90 days (average 21 days). The chancre is usually firm, round, small, and painless. It appears at the spot where syphilis entered the body. The chancre lasts 3 to 6 weeks, and it heals without treatment. However, if adequate treatment is not administered, the infection progresses to the secondary stage.

Syphilis Secondary Stage

Skin rash and mucous membrane lesions characterize the secondary stage. This stage typically starts with the development of a rash on one or more areas of the body. The rash usually does not cause itching. Rashes associated with secondary syphilis can appear as the chancre is healing or several weeks after the chancre has healed. The characteristic rash of secondary syphilis may appear as rough, red, or reddish brown spots both on the palms of the hands and the bottoms of the feet. However, rashes with a different appearance may occur on other parts of the body, sometimes resembling rashes caused by other diseases. Sometimes rashes associated with secondary syphilis are so faint that they are not noticed. In addition to rashes, symptoms of secondary syphilis may include fever, swollen lymph glands, sore throat, patchy hair loss, headaches, weight loss, muscle aches, and fatigue. The signs and symptoms of secondary syphilis will resolve with or without treatment, but without treatment, the infection will progress to the latent and possibly late stages of disease. Get tested at .

Syphilis Late and Latent StagesThe latent (hidden) stage of syphilis begins when primary and secondary symptoms disappear. Without treatment, the infected person will continue to have syphilis even though there are no signs or symptoms; infection remains in the body. This latent stage can last for years. The late stages of syphilis can develop in about 15% of people who have not been treated for syphilis, and can appear 10 – 20 years after infection was first acquired. In the late stages of syphilis, the disease may subsequently damage the internal organs, including the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver, bones, and joints. Signs and symptoms of the late stage of syphilis include difficulty coordinating muscle movements, paralysis, numbness, gradual blindness, and dementia. This damage may be serious enough to cause death.
How do people get syphilis?
Syphilis is passed from person to person through direct contact with a syphilis sore. Sores occur mainly on the external genitals, vagina, anus, or in the rectum. Sores also can occur on the lips and in the mouth. Transmission of the organism occurs during vaginal, anal, or oral sex. Pregnant women with the disease can pass it to the babies they are carrying. Syphilis cannot be spread through contact with toilet seats, doorknobs, swimming pools, hot tubs, bathtubs, shared clothing, or eating utensils.
What is the treatment for Syphilis?
Syphilis is easy to cure in its early stages. A single intramuscular injection of penicillin, an antibiotic, will cure a person who has had syphilis for less than a year. Additional doses are needed to treat someone who has had syphilis for longer than a year. For people who are allergic to penicillin, other antibiotics are available to treat syphilis. There are no home remedies or over-the-counter drugs that will cure syphilis. Treatment will kill the syphilis bacterium and prevent further damage, but it will not repair damage already done.
Because effective treatment is available, it is important that persons be screened for syphilis on an on-going basis if their sexual behaviors put them at risk for STDs.
Persons who receive syphilis treatment must abstain from sexual contact with new partners until the syphilis sores are completely healed. Persons with syphilis must notify their sex partners so that they also can be tested and receive treatment if necessary. Source: CDC

 Get tested for Syphilis.


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Jun 28 2010

See hilarious flick on SNL with Alec Baldwin, herpes, and Valtrex.

Category: Herpes — Stephanie @ 1:36 pm

See hilarious flick on SNL with Alec Baldwin, herpes, and Valtrex. If you have a concern or two we can help . 

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Jun 10 2010

Chlamydia Infections in Adolescents and Adults

Category: Chlamydia — Stephanie @ 2:07 pm

In the United States, chlamydial genital infection is the most frequently reported infectious disease, and the prevalence is highest in persons aged ≤ 25 years. Chlamydia can cause PID, ectopic pregnancy, and infertility.
Asymptomatic infection is common among both men and women. Annual screening of all sexually active women aged ≤25 years is recommended, as is screening of older women with risk factors (e.g., those who have a new sex partner or multiple sex partners). Screening of sexually active young men should be considered and an appropriate sexual risk assessment should be conducted for all persons.
Diagnostic Considerations
Chlamydia urogenital infection in women can be diagnosed by testing urine or swab specimens collected from the endocervix or vagina. Diagnosis of Chlamydia urethral infection in men can be made by testing a urethral swab or urine specimen. Rectal Chlamydia infections in persons that engage in receptive anal intercourse can be diagnosed by testing a rectal swab specimen. Culture, direct immunofluorescence, EIA, nucleic acid hybridization tests, and NAATs are available for the detection of Chlamydiaon endocervical and male urethral swab specimens. NAATs are the most sensitive tests for these specimens and are FDA-cleared for use with urine. Patients’ whose condition has been diagnosed as chlamydia also should be tested for other STDs.
Treatment
Treating infected patients prevents transmission to sex partners. In addition, treating pregnant women usually prevents transmission of Chlamydia to infants during birth. Treatment of sex partners helps prevent reinfection of the patient and infection of other partners. Coinfection with Chlamydia frequently occurs among patients who have gonococcal infection; therefore, presumptive treatment of such patients for chlamydia is appropriate. Treatment regimens cure infections.
Source: CDC

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