Venereal Disease

A sexually transmitted infection (STI), also known as a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and formerly venereal disease (VD), is an infection that is spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, oral sex, or sometimes manual sex. STIs often do not initially cause symptoms, which results in a risk of transmitting them to others. The term sexually transmitted infection is generally preferred over sexually transmitted disease or venereal disease, as it includes cases with no symptomatic disease. Symptoms and signs of STIs may include vaginal discharge, penile discharge, ulcers on or around the genitals, and pelvic pain. Some STIs can cause infertility. Bacterial STIs include chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis. Viral STIs include genital warts, genital herpes, and HIV/AIDS. Parasitic STIs include trichomoniasis. Most STIs are treatable and curable, such as syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis are curable. Others, such as HIV/AIDS and genital herpes, are not curable. Some vaccinations have been known to decrease the risk of certain infections including hepatitis B and a few types of HPV. Using condoms, having a smaller number of sexual partners, and being in a relationship in which each person only has sex with the other are all safe sex practises that decreases the risk of contracting STIs. Comprehensive sex education may also be useful. STI diagnostic tests are usually easily available in the developed world, but they are often unavailable in the developing world. There is often shame and stigma associated with STIs. In 2015, STIs (excluding HIV) resulted in 108,000 deaths worldwide. Globally, in 2015, about 1.1 billion people had STIs other than HIV/AIDS. About 500 million have either syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia or trichomoniasis. At least an additional 530 million have genital herpes, and 290 million women have human papillomavirus. Historical documentation of STIs in antiquity dates back to at least the Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BCE) and the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (8th/7th C. BCE).

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