Most Read: STIs: The Facts You Need To Know

These you need to know about Sexually transmitted Infections.

We currently live in a world where most of our young ones and even adults are not properly educated about diseases. With the advent of social media and raging Pop culture we daily see the glorifying of sex and other actions on the frontpage of most of our screens. With this many have been conditioned to such stereotype and have become loose and now engage in illicit Sexual intercourse and have many partners. A scroll through the romance section of dhabworld would show the thoughts that runs through the mind of most youths to the extent that we see threads asking if there exist relationships without sex and the partners being faithful .

First you need to throw away that high school or whatever sex education you got from your friends about how wearing a condom can protect you from all diseases and keep you safe as long as you use it properly. That's so wrong and very untrue. There are actually many STIs out there that can't be prevented by using a condom.

On this thread I would be listing the various diseases we have and with this I hope we would have armed more people with the right information about STIs rather than the half truths and many lies you hear on broadcast mediums.




1. GENITAL HERPES
Living With It: May seem invisible but very dangerous.
Curable: No

RAW Score: 13 Partners
Condoms Protect: No

So I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that a poo-ton of people have herpes. The good news is that the vast majority of people never show symptoms and don’t have the viral load required for it to show up in their blood levels.

There are two types of Herpes: HSV-1 and HSV-2. HSV-1 usually causes breakouts around the mouth — we just call them cold sores or fever blisters. A large % of the population has HSV-1, although at any given time almost none have a break out. HSV-2 causes breakouts around the genitals. Herpes never goes away and it's dangerous for pregnant women and they may need a C- Section as a natural birth could lead to the baby being blind or cause still births. Question is ladies, do you want to give birth through surgery?

2. CHLAMYDIA
Living With It:V. Uncomfortable
Curable: Yes (2-4 Weeks)

RAW Score: 36 Partners
Condom Protects: Yes

Chlamydia is a bacterial infection, mostly transferred through intercourse. In men it’s uncomfortable and a bit harmless. In women, if untreated, it can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, which can lead to complications with pregnancies or even infertility.

Symptoms include burning pee and balls might ache. While 25% of men don’t experience symptoms, a full 70% of women do not experience any symptoms, which actually makes it more dangerous for women (most doctors recommend women screen for chlamydia at least once a year).


3. GONORRHEA
Living With It: Painful.
Curable: Yes (within a month)

RAW Score: 179 Partners
Condom Protects: Yes

Gonorrhea is Chlamydia’s big brother. In fact, the two often occur together. The difference is that gonorrhea can be transferred via any orifice: joystick, vagina, anus, mouth. It often takes a few weeks for symptoms to show up, and it’s even more unpleasant to deal with. The symptoms for gonorrhea include painful urination, aching balls for guys, swollen urethra, sore throat, and pus coming out of your genitals. Yes, that was pus coming out of your genitals.

Apparently there’s a new strain of gonorrhea which does not react to antibiotics. This STD has made a bit of a comeback in terms of riskiness and it is very prevalent in Nigeria.

4. SYPHILIS
Living With It: Itchy. Then 15 years later you go insane and kill yourself from dementia. (Seriously)
Curable: Yes

RAW Score: 1841 partners
Condom Protects: No

The famous philosopher Nietzsche was a bit of a lush and had a fondness for prostitutes. Somewhere along the way, he contracted syphilis and his body began to wither from the inside out. Over the course of this torturous process, he famously proclaimed “God is dead” and slowly slipped into dementia and died. Although there are contrary tales I have read that he died of cancer.

Syphilis was the 19th century’s version of the AIDS epidemic. It was famously cured by Alexander Fleming in 1928 but it is on the rise, especially among gay men.

Syphilis plays itself out in stages. The first stage is you develop a sore or sores (usually just one, but not always). This happens a few weeks after contracting the infection and the sore is generally painless. From there, after a few months, you break out into rashes. These rashes go on for weeks or
months and eventually subside. From there, you may have no symptoms. Then 15-20 years later your internal organs start bleeding, you lose control of your motor functions, and you start losing your mind and die.


5. HPV
Living With It: A nuisance. A few years of awkward conversations. Hopefully just one painful operation for women.
Curable: No but it typically leaves on its own in some cases after a few years. There is also a vaccine for women and men now (get it!)

RAW Score: 4 Partners
Condom Protects: No

HPV is where things begin to get interesting. HPV is the latest STD freakout in the media. If all you’ve heard is the few
tidbits that get passed around, it sounds horrifying. Most sexually active men and women will get it at some point in their lives, it causes cancer, condoms don’t protect it.

There are over 100 strains of HPV. All except for about six of them are basically harmless. For men, all but two have no symptoms. The two that cause symptoms in men cause genital warts. Warts sound terrible and can be removed with basic surgery. The other four high-risk strains can, if left untreated, lead to cervical cancer in women.

Actually, HPV is the leading cause of cervical cancer in women. New studies are also showing that MouthAction with someone who has these strains can potentially lead to throat cancer down the road. But HPV throat cancer rates are still insanely low and the other rare types of cancers caused by HPV are uncommon and almost never fatal.

Also, women who do get lesions can have a procedure that prevents them from getting cervical cancer, but it’s pretty painful and follow ups with your doctor are necessary.

Also, there is an HPV vaccine for women and men can get it now too.Women should get regular screening for HPV, assuming they see their doctor regularly.

Unfortunately, most places are unable to test men for HPV.
The only way men can know if they have it is if someone you’re dating tells you they have it, or if you happen to find a wart.


6. HIV
Living With It: Expensive and debilitating.
Curable: No

RAW Score: 1,250 Partners (significantly fewer partners if engaging in anal sex)
Condoms Protect: Yes(but not 100 percent sure proof)

HIV is no longer the death warrant it once was but it is awful and surely life-altering.

There are some demographics which are far more likely to catch HIV than others, primarily gay men and drug users. In the US 80% of all HIV cases come from gay men or drug addicts who use dirty needles. When it comes to vaginal sex, it’s almost impossible for a man to catch it from a woman (but would you risk catching other STIs in the process?), while a woman can catch it from a man.

Anal Sex seems to be the big culprit here. Africans account
disproportionately for a large portion of all HIV cases in the world.

The symptoms of HIV are flu-like symptoms a couple weeks after contracting it. From there your immune system slowly shuts down over the period of years. There are a lot of therapies and treatments available and most people who contract it are able to live functional, mostly normal lives, assuming they get proper medical care.