How to avoid getting an STD

We’ve been talking about Gonorrhea and chlamydia infections.

What are the behaviours or situations that can put one at risk of STDS?

These behaviours or situations include the following:

1. Having multiple sexual partners
2. Being single.
3. Being in the active teenage years
4. Prostitution or paying for sex
5. Not using a condom for sex.
6. When a person has had or been treated for a sexually transmitted disease in the past. Of course numbers 2 and 3 are not bad in themselves, only that some are prone to receiving wrong advice due to peer pressure and other influences. Go through the list above again, is there any behaviour or situation that applies to you? Do you need to do anything about it?

So how are STDS transmitted?

We’ve talked about what we mean by sexual contact and we’ve said that Gonorrhea and chlamydia infections can be acquired through sex.

However, is it just the conventional sex that puts one at risk? The answer is no. You can acquire these diseases through

• having vaginal sex
• oral sex
• or anal sex with an infected person
•  during delivery, a mother may also pass the disease to her baby who will come down with some symptoms.

What are the symptoms of Gonorrhea?

Like we said before, some people may show no symptoms of Gonorrhea or chlamydia infection, that does not mean they don’t have it.

It may take as short as 2-7 days after exposure for symptoms to start manifesting

A man with Gonorrhea may complain of pain when he urinates, he may go on to see a discharge coming out of his penis, he may see this after he urinates. This discharge could be greenish, yellowish or whitish.

For a woman, symptoms may not be so obvious , they could also feel pain when they urinate or have a vaginal discharge or bleed between their periods.

Do you have any of the above symptoms? Get tested for Gonorrhea.

What are the symptoms of Chlamydia infection?

Let’s look at symptoms of Chlamydia infection. Chlamydia infection is quite common and may not show any symptom, and for those who do, it may take many weeks to show.

In women there may be a discharge which will signify an infection of the cervix, this discharge may smell terribly, there may be some bleeding which women may take to be an abnormal period. There could also be pain on urination , pus in the urine etc.

Men also may have a discharge from their penis and pain when they urinate. Join me tomorrow as we talk about tests one can do to diagnose Gonorrhea and chlamydia.

Stay healthy