April: Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Awareness Month

April has been nationally recognized as Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Awareness Month. A STD is an infection that can be transmitted through sexual contact with an infected individual. STDs can be transmitted during vaginal or other types of sexual intercourse including oral and anal sex. STDs have been around in the medical world since the 18th and 19th centuries. Before then, there were no modern medicinal advances to decrease the spread of these diseases, and there was also a lack of awareness and understanding of treatments available. In earlier times the most known medicinal aids used were Mercury, Arsenic and Sulphur. Sulphur was frequently used to treat venereal diseases, which resulted in a large sum of deaths because of mercury poisoning. A few years later STDs became a serious matter to lots of individuals, so serious in the second half of the 19th century, the Contagious Diseases Act was passed in order to arrest and treat suspected prostitutes, and other individuals that were purposely and carelessly spreading diseases. In the early 20th centuries, more medicinal advancements for STDs started to be found as more new discovered diseases began to increase. In the early 20th Century, the discovery of penicillin and other antibiotics led to an effective cure of bacterial STD, but other diseases such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), were left with no cure even to this date. One might ask, “Who is exactly at risk?” Well anybody who has engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse or contact is at risk of transmitting an STD. There is a higher risk rather, in certain groups such as drug abusers, those with multiple sex partners, and those partners who have had multiple sex partners. Once you feel as if you have symptoms of an STD, it is strongly recommended that you receive medical attention. Some of the symptoms of an STD include, Discharge from the penis or vagina, itching around the genitalia, pain experienced during sexual intercourse or while urinating, sores and pain in those practicing oral sex with an infected person, and even fever, weakness, body and muscle aches and swollen lymph nodes. There are a variety of organisms that are STDs, they include hepatitis B, herpes complex and human papilloma virus (HPV), gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis. All of these diseases though not all curable, are treatable. If you are diagnosed with these diseases, or feel as if you or anyone else has these diseases or symptoms of these diseases, please refer or visit the nearest physician, and ask questions about diagnosis, medicine, and other aids to assist you. The most effective assistance is to educate yourself as well as others, on the history, causes, and symptoms, of these diseases.