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Four Curable STIs You Need To Know About

Published

3 years ago

Apr 10, 2022.

Yinka Akanbi

If left untreated, STIs can lead to serious consequences including blindness and other neurologic manifestations…
According to new global estimates, each day there are more than one million new cases of these STIs

EDITOR’S PICK

EKO HOT BLOG reports that Chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis, and syphilis are four potential outcomes of sex that we’d all like to avoid.

According to new global estimates, each day there are more than one million new cases of these sexually transmitted infections.

The worrying thing is, even though we have never known more about how to prevent these infections, rates of infection remain very high worldwide.

If left untreated, STIs can lead to serious consequences including blindness and other neurologic manifestations, infertility, mother-to-child transmission or birth defects.

However, these 4 infections are curable.

Chlamydia

Chlamydia is one of the most common STIs in women, particularly young women. In 2016, among men and women aged 15–49 years old, there were 127 million cases of chlamydia.

Painful urination is a symptom of chlamydia, but most often there are no symptoms. It can affect the genital tract, the urinary tract and the eyes. Without treatment, this can lead to blindness, infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease and ectopic pregnancy. Chlamydia can also put the health of infants born to infected mothers at high risk.

Chlamydia can be cured with antibiotics but beware, repeat infection is common.

Trichomoniasis

Trichomoniasis (or “trich”) is the most common of the curable STIs. The organism Trichomonas vaginalis is a parasite which lives in the lower genital tract and is generally transmitted through sexual intercourse. The tricky thing about this parasite is that it can infect areas that are not covered by a condom – so condoms do not fully protect you from getting trichomoniasis.

Both men and women can get a trich infection. Symptoms vary but many who are infected do not know and can pass on the infection to others.

A healthcare provider must perform a laboratory test to diagnose trich.

Syphilis

Spread through vaginal, anal and oral sex syphilis causes sores (called chancres) on your genitals. Left untreated, Syphilis can lead to serious and permanent problems like brain damage, blindness and paralysis. Many people with syphilis have no symptoms and do not know they are infected.

Syphilis has three stages – the first is the sores, in the second stage a rash and swollen lymph nodes develop and during the third stage the brain, heart and other organs can be affected.

Take syphilis seriously and get tested and treated early if you are at risk or have symptoms. It can be cured through a simple treatment of penicillin.

FURTHER READING

Gonorrhoea

Gonorrhoea may be on the verge of becoming an untreatable disease. Gonorrhoea is caused by a bacteria, and it is treated with two drugs but resistance is already developing to one of the drugs. Soon we may have no treatment options remaining for multi-drug resistant gonorrhoea infections.

Those diagnosed with gonorrhoea are at risk of serious complications and untreated, the disease can cause inflammation of the womb and infertility. The infection can also be passed from a pregnant woman to her baby.

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