Protecting Against STIs and AIDS

Question 1

What is an STI?

Answer 1

An STI is an infection that is transmitted by unprotected sexual behavior

Question 2

STI agents can enter the body by:

Answer 2

o Breaks in the skin
o Mucous membranes
o Transfer of blood
o Parents to child

Question 3

STIs Risk Factors

Answer 3

•	Multiple sexual partners
•	False sense of security
•	Absence of signs and symptoms
•	Untreated conditions
•	Impaired judgment
•	Lack of immunity
•	Body piercing (genitals)
•	Value judgments—STIs have 
been associated with sinfulness, dirtiness, condemnation, shame, guilt, and disgust.
•	Denial

Question 4

Common STIs

Answer 4

• Trichomoniasis
• Bacterial Vaginosis
• Chlamydial/Gonorrhea
• Syphilis
• Genital Herpes
• Human Papillomavirus and Anogenital Warts
• HIV/AIDS

Question 5

Trichomoniasis

Answer 5

• Symptoms occur primarily in women and include vaginal itching and a cheesy, odorous discharge from the vagina
• Only about 30% of people with trichomoniasis have symptoms including itching, burning, or sore genitals. You might also see a smelly, clear, white, yellowish, or greenish discharge
• Men also can carry the organisms in the urethra of the penis and under the penile foreskin.

Question 6

Bacterial Vaginosis

Answer 6

• Overgrowth of certain types of bacteria.
• Can be sexually transmissible.
• Symptoms include vaginal discharge, may have “fishy” smell, or may show no symptoms.
• Treatable

Question 7

Chlamydia

Answer 7

• The lungs are occasionally infected.
• This infection often occurs in conjunction
with gonorrhea.
• Symptoms generally appear within 7 to 21 days after infection and include :Painful urination in both men and women. A whitish discharge from the penis or vagina
• Chlamydia can be treated with antibiotics.
• There is no immunity to chlamydia, which means reinfection may occur many times.

Question 8

Gonorrhea:

Answer 8

• A person can be infected in the genitals, anus, mouth, or eyes
• Can be transmitted by oral or anal sex
• Can be passed to newborns as they move through the vagina
• Can be asymptomatic
• Most men with gonorrhea get symptoms, but only about 20% of women do
• When symptoms do appear, they include: Painful urination in both men and women. A yellowish discharge from the penis or vagina
• First symptoms appear 7 to 10 days
after exposure.
• Can be treated with antibiotics

Question 9

Syphilis

Answer 9

• Transmitted through genital, oral, and anal contact and through blood.
o First sign is a painless ulcer (chancre), which occurs between the first week and the third month after infection.
• Secondary stage (if untreated) appears in about 6 months. Marked by Skin rash. Loss of hair. Growths on moist areas of the body
• If left untreated, infection enters the
latent stage.
• There are years of no obvious symptoms, during which the organisms invade
body organs.
• Infection can seriously damage vital organs.
• Treatment at any stage is with antibiotics.

Question 10

Genital Herpes

Answer 10

• Herpes is easy to catch. All it takes is skin-to-skin contact, including areas that a condom doesn’t cover
• Can infect newborn babies: Two-thirds of untreated babies die.
• Often asymptomatic: 90% of people infected with HSV-2 do not know it.
• Symptoms are blisters and painful sores, and sometimes fever and abdominal pain
• Virus remains in the body and occasionally flares up in response to stress.
• There is no cure, but medication can minimize symptoms.
• Herpes is highly contagious when a sore is present

Question 11

Genital Warts

Answer 11

• Most common STI. Nearly every sexually active person will have HPV at some point
• More than 40 types can be spread sexually
• You can get them through vaginal, anal, or oral sex. You can get them by skin-to-skin contact, too
• Most types of HPV have no symptoms and cause no harm, and your body gets rid of them on its own
• But some of them cause warts
• Others infect the mouth and throat
• Still others can cause cancer of the cervix, penis, oral cavity

Question 12

Human Papillomavirus (HPV)

Answer 12

• HPV can cause warts, or Condylomata acuminata,
• HPV types can cause cancer of the cervix
• Can be removed with a liquid containing podophyllin or by freezing the wart with
liquid nitrogen.
• Generally diagnosed by visual examination
• 20-30% regress on their own, but recurrence is common
• Treatment reduces but does not eliminate infectiousness, includes local and pharmacologic therapies

Question 13

For oral sex on the penis:

Answer 13

o Cover the penis with a non-lubricated latex condom.

o Use plastic (polyurethane) condoms if you or your partner is allergic to latex

Question 14

For oral sex on the vagina or anus:

Answer 14

o Use a dental dam.

Cut open a condom to make a square, and put it between the mouth and the partner’s vagina or anus

Question 15

What can I do?

Answer 15

o	Abstain
o	Condom
o	Mutual monogamy
o	Vaccination
o	Nb of partners

Question 16

Oral sex and sexual behavior involving digital-vaginal or digital-anal contact can result In infections such as

Answer 16

• HPV
• Bacterial vaginosis
• Trichomoniasis

Question 17

Are you at Risk?

Answer 17

• Engaging in unprotected sex?
• Sexual partners participate in high-risk activities (such as anal sex)
• Intravenous drug users who share needles
• Infants born to parent with HIV who don’t receive HIV therapy during pregnancy

Question 18

HIV

Answer 18

• Initial infection with HIV can produce no symptoms.
• 2 weeks after contracting the virus, most people, experience flu-like symptoms.
• Respiratory/ Gastrointestinal
• Severe morbidity and death
• HIV infection causes disease by
destroying immune system cells leaving patient vulnerable to bacterial, viral, and fungal infections.
• HIV transmitted via blood, semen, and vaginal fluids of infected individuals

Question 19

AIDS:

Answer 19

• HIV is a retrovirus, which means that, once it gains entry to a cell, it incorporates itself into the host cell’s DNA.
• First symptoms are often flu-like and experienced within a few weeks of exposure; generally, the person recovers from these symptoms.
• An HIV-infected person may not manifest symptoms of AIDS for 15 to 20 years but can still spread the infection.
• Most tests for HIV infection detect antibodies to HIV-positive result (“seropositive”) indicates that a person has been exposed to sufficient quantities of HIV to trigger an immune response.
• HIV infections are lifelong.
• To date there is no cure for AIDS.
• Treatments attempt to slow the replication of the virus.
• Medications help treat the symptoms.

Question 20

Reducing the Risk of HIV

Answer 20

• Having sex only in a monogamous, long-term relationship.
• Do not use drugs, and if you do, use clean needles and do not share needles.
• Use condoms when having sex.

Question 21

Testing for HIV

Answer 21

• Testing begins with a counseling session.
• Actual testing involves taking a small amount of blood from the arm, which is tested in a special laboratory.
• Regardless of the test results, another counseling session is necessary.
• HIV testing consists of two types – anonymous and confidential.

Question 22

Preventing STDs Individuals must

Answer 22

o Get immediate treatment for an STD
o Take responsibility not to infect others
o Practice safer sex to reduce the risk of infection

Question 23

• Barriers to safer sex

Answer 23

o Denying that there is a risk
o Believing that the campus community is insulated from STDs
o Feeling guilty
o Succumbing to social and peer pressure to be sexual

Question 24

• Practicing Safer Sex

Answer 24

 Practice abstinence.
 Know your partner’s sexual history, including all high-risk activities.
 Use a male or female condom and spermicides.