Dangerous Holiday Loves, Reduce your Risk of Spreading!!

Genital Herpes
a sexually transmitted disease caused by the herpes simplex virus, usually spread through intercourse with a person with infected sores, but it can be passed through oral or anal sex as well. Genital herpes is common, affecting both men and women. The cause of genital herpes is a strain of herpes simplex virus (HSV), which enters your body through small breaks in your skin or mucous membranes. Herpes symptoms can come and go, but the virus stays in the nerve.

Genital herpes symptoms may include:

- Small, red bumps, blisters (vesicles) or open sores (ulcers) in the genital, anal and nearby areas
- Pain or itching around your genital area, buttocks or inner thighs

Reduce your risk and:

- Wear loose clothes
- Keep the genital area clean and dry
- Try not to touch the sores and if you do touch them, wash your hands with warm soap and water right away
- Avoid having sex during an outbreak
- Always using a condom made of latex and avoiding sexual contact when you have an outbreak
- Try medications e.g. Valtrex

As many as 50 million people from US are infected with genital herpes age 12 and older, with 1 million new infections each year.

If you have herpes, do not have any sexual activity with someone who does not have herpes when you have sores or other symptoms of herpes. Even if you don't have symptoms, you can still pass the virus to others.

Gonorrhea is also commonly known by the slang term " The clap "
A sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoea. A common cause of urethral and vaginal discharge and of discharging eyes in newborns. During pregnancy, gonorrhea infections can cause premature labor and stillbirth.

Infection with gonorrhea is more common in certain groups of people. The highest reported infection rates occur in the following groups:
- Adolescents and young adults
- People (often poor) living in urban areas and Southern states
- African Americans
- Drug users

Symptoms of gonorrhea generally appear between 2 and 10 days after infection, although it could take as long as 30 days for your symptoms to appear. If you are a woman and are suffering from gonorrhea, you may experience bleeding after sex and frequent, painful urination. These symptoms are especially common in the early stages of an infection of the cervix. Later symptoms include nausea, fever, vomiting, bleeding between periods, and a yellow or bloody vaginal discharge.

Gonorrhea Treatment

Doctors usually prescribe a single dose of one of the following antibiotics to treat gonorrhea:

- Cefixime
- Ceftriaxone
- Ciprofloxacin
- Ofloxacin
- Levofloxacin

If you have gonorrhea and are pregnant or are younger than 18 years old, you should not take ciprofloxacin or ofloxacin. Your doctor can prescribe the best and safest antibiotic for you.

Gonorrhea and chlamydial infection, another common STD, often infect people at the same time. Therefore, doctors usually prescribe a combination of antibiotics, such as ceftriaxone and doxycycline or azithromycin, which will treat both chlamydial and gonorrhea disease.

If you have gonorrhea, all of your sexual partners should get tested and then treatment for gonorrhea if infected, whether or not they have symptoms of gonorrhea.
Without treatment, gonorrhea infections will only get worse.

Gonorrhea Prevention

- Talk with your partner about STDs before beginning a sexual relationship.
- Avoid sexual contact if you have symptoms of an STD or are being treated for an STD.
- Avoid sexual contact with anyone who has symptoms of an STD or who may have been exposed to an STD.
- Don't have more than one sexual relationship at a time.
- Condom use reduces the risk of becoming infected with an STD.

Syphilis
a sexually transmitted disease caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum . It has often been called “the great imitator” because so many of the signs and symptoms are indistinguishable from those of other diseases. . If syphilis is not properly treated, it can cause brain, nerve, and tissue damage. A pregnant woman with syphilis can pass the disease to her infant during childbirth; this is called congenital syphilis.

Syphilis Symptoms

Syphilis may progress through 3 distinct stages

The first symptom of primary syphilis is a usually painless open sore called a chancre (pronounced "shanker"). The chancre can appear within 10 days to 3 months (usually 2 to 6 weeks) after exposure.

Secondary syphilis is marked by a skin rash that appears anywhere from 2 to 12 weeks after the chancre disappears. The rash may cover the whole body or appear only in a few areas, such as the palms of the hands or soles of the feet.

Latent (dormant) phase : The early latent phase (first 1-2 years) is characterized by occasional relapses back to symptoms of the secondary phase of syphilis. More than 2 years after the start of the latent phase, you may have no symptoms and are generally not infectious. However, you can still transmit the infection from mother to fetus or through blood transfusions.

Syphilis Treatment

Early diagnosis and treatment with penicillin — or another antibiotic if you're allergic to penicillin — can kill the organism that causes syphilis and stop the progression of the disease. Left untreated, the disease can lead to serious complications or death.

If transmitted to a fetus, syphilis can cause deformity and death. Even if you were treated for syphilis during your pregnancy, your newborn child should receive antibiotic treatment.

AIDS
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, serious (often fatal) disease of the immune system transmitted through blood products especially by sexual contact or contaminated needles.

AIDS Symptoms

Once the immune system weakens, a person infected with AIDS can develop the following symptoms:

Lack of energy
Weight loss
Frequent fevers and sweats
Persistent or frequent yeast infections
Persistent skin rashes or flaky skin
Short-term memory loss
Mouth, genital, or anal sores from herpes infections

AIDS Treatment

Anti-HIV (also called antiretroviral) medications are used to control the reproduction of the virus and to slow or halt the progression of HIV-related disease. When used in combinations, these medications are termed Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART). HAART combines three or more anti-HIV medications in a daily regimen, sometimes referred to as a "cocktail". Anti-HIV medications do not cure HIV infection and individuals taking these medications can still transmit HIV to others. Anti-HIV medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fall into four classes:
1 - Nonnucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs)
2 - Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs)
3 - Protease Inhibitors (PIs)
4 - Fusion Inhibitors