Reproductive Health Daily
Repro Health also offers reproductive and sexual health education programs. We are happy to present to classrooms, schools, and organizations. We can train teachers in how to implement them via social media and tailor them to their audience, or offer virtual lesson plans.
Feel free to ask us any questions about reproductive health that you may have. We can post the questions anonymously as well. Please join us on Facebook and Twitter and continue the education and discussions!
Other elements have contributed to Cuba’s success: It has free universal basic health care; it has stunningly high rates of H.I.V. testing; it saturates its population with free condoms, concentrating on high-risk groups like prostitutes; it gives its teenagers graphic safe-sex education; it rigorously traces the sexual contacts of each person who tests positive.
By contrast, the response in the United States — which records 50,000 new infections every year — seems feeble. Millions of poor people never see a doctor. Testing is voluntary, and many patients do not return for their results. Sex education is so politicized that many schools teach nothing about protected sex; condoms are expensive, and distribution of free ones is haphazard.
What are your thoughts?
A follower recently asked if a blood test was necessary to be sure of a herpes diagnosis. So let’s address that, as well as ways to prevent further herpes transmission.
Diagnosis and Treatment
—Health care providers can diagnose genital herpes by visual inspection if the outbreak is typical, and by taking a sample from the sore(s) and testing it. A blood test is not always necessary.
—However, if no sores are visible, HSV infections can be diagnosed between outbreaks by the use of a blood test. Blood tests, which detect antibodies to HSV-1 or HSV-2 results are not always clear-cut, however, so it’s a good idea to maintain open communication with your healthcare provider if you think you spot a herpes outbreak.
Prevention
—One of the most important things to remember about herpes is that genital ulcer diseases like this can exist in all genital areas, and may be spread even if they are covered by a latex condom.
—It is important to remember that even if a person does not have any symptoms he or she can still infect sex partners. However, correct and consistent use of latex condoms can reduce the risk of spreading genital herpes, and if condoms are worn consistently and regularly, maintain suppressive therapy, and you engage in sex only when you do not have an outbreak, the risk of infecting another is greatly reduced.
Unfortunately, herpes can cause some additional health complications. Luckily, with treatment such as daily suppressive therapy, these can be greatly minimized. Most of the associated issues have to do with pregnancy and infections to newborns. Here are just a few things to be aware of:
—Genital HSV can lead to potentially fatal infections in babies.
—It is important that women avoid contracting herpes during pregnancy because a new infection during late pregnancy has a bigger risk of transmission to the baby.
—If a woman has active genital herpes at delivery, a cesarean delivery is usually performed.
—Fortunately, infection of a baby from a woman with herpes infection is rare.
Additionally, physicians are now well-prepared in how to manage deliveries of babies from women who have genital herpes. Medications like Valtrex - a common suppressive drug for herpes, usually taken daily - are generally fine to take while pregnant, helping to prevent an outbreak before delivery and allowing the woman to deliver vaginally.
It’s important to remember that herpes may also play a role in the spread of HIV. Herpes can make people more at risk for HIV infection, and it can make HIV-infected individuals more infectious to other people. Remember to get regularly tested and always wear condoms to minimize these additional risks.
The symptoms of genital herpes can be scary when people notice them for the first time. A visit to your doctor is the only thing that can confirm whether or not your have herpes, but here are some common facts about the presentation of herpes symptoms:
Symptoms
—Most people infected with HSV-2 are not aware of their infection. However, if signs and symptoms occur during the first outbreak, they can be pretty obvious.
—The first outbreak usually occurs within two weeks after the virus is transmitted, and the sores typically heal within two to four weeks.
—Other signs and symptoms during the primary episode may include a second crop of sores, and flu-like symptoms, including fever and swollen glands.
—Most individuals with HSV-2 infection never have sores, or they have very mild signs that they do not even notice or that they mistake for insect bites or another skin condition.
—People diagnosed with a first episode of genital herpes can expect to have several (typically four or five) outbreaks within a year. Over time these recurrences usually decrease in frequency.
—It is possible that a person becomes aware of a “first episode” years after they were infected.
One of the most important things to remember about genital herpes is that people may not know they have it, since some people don’t have initial outbreaks.
We get questions about herpes ALL the time - it’s a common STI and the first sight of it can understandably cause stress for people. So, how is it transmitted? Like most STIs! Unprotected sex. But, there are some important things to know about the transmission of this STI:
Transmission
—Transmission from an infected male to his female partner is more likely than from an infected female to her male partner.
—While the herpes virus can be found in and released from the sores that the viruses cause, they also are released between outbreaks from skin that does not appear to have a sore.
—People can transmit HSV-2, genital herpes, without knowing it and while having no symptoms.
—Generally, a person can only get HSV-2 infection during sexual contact with someone who has a genital HSV-2 infection.
—HSV-1 can cause genital herpes, but it more commonly causes infections of the mouth and lips.
—HSV-1 infection of the genitals can be caused by oral-genital or genital-genital contact with a person who has HSV-1 infection.
—Genital HSV-1 outbreaks recur less regularly than genital HSV-2 outbreaks.
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Today we’re starting a unit on a very common STI, genital herpes. Let’s begin with some preliminary facts about this virus:
Facts
—Genital herpes is cause by the herpes simplex viruses type 1 (HSV-1) or type 2 (HSV-2).
—Most genital herpes is caused by HSV-2.
—Most individuals have no or only minimal signs or symptoms from HSV-1 or HSV-2 infection.
—The infection, since it is caused by a virus, stays in the body indefinitely. This means once you contract herpes, you will always have it. Outbreaks can be controlled and prevented, which we’ll talk about over the next few sessions.
—Nationwide, 16.2%, or about one out of six, people 14 to 49 years of age have genital HSV-2 infection. Over the past decade, the percentage of Americans with genital herpes infection in the U.S. has remained stable.
—Genital HSV-2 infection is more common in women (approximately one out of five women 14 to 49 years of age) than in men (about one out of nine men 14 to 49 years of age).
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In light of our most recent unit on gonorrhea, we thought you guys might like this article!
Now that we’ve talked about symptoms and transmission, it’s good to know what happens in diagnosis and treatment for gonorrhea.
Diagnosis and Treatment
—A doctor or nurse can obtain a sample for testing from the parts of the body likely to be infected (cervix, urethra, rectum, or throat), and in some cases can use urine to test.
—Antibiotics can successfully cure gonorrhea in adolescents and adults.
—However, drug-resistant strains of gonorrhea are increasing in many areas of the world, and successful treatment of gonorrhea is becoming more difficult.
—It is now recommened that two kinds of drugs be used to treatment gonorrhea.
—It is important to take all of the medication prescribed to cure gonorrhea. Although medication will stop the infection, it will not repair any permanent damage done by the disease.
Prevention Reminders!!
—Latex condoms, when used consistently and correctly, can reduce the risk of transmission of gonorrhea.
—Any genital symptoms such as discharge or burning during urination or unusual sore or rash should be a signal to stop having sex and to see a doctor.
Sometimes, when people contract bacterial STIs like gonorrhea, they aren’t as concerned as they may have been if they had contracted a viral STI, like herpes, HPV, or HIV. Antibiotics can take of those bacterial infections, right? That’s definitely true - but you have to catch it first, which is why protected sex and regular testing are so important. In that regard, we wanted to address some associated risks of gonorrhea as an untreated STI:
Associated Risks
—Untreated gonorrhea can cause some permanent health problems in both women and men.
—In women, gonorrhea is a common cause of pelvic inflammatory disease.
—In men, gonorrhea can cause epididymitis, a painful condition of the ducts attached to the testicles. This can unfortunately lead to infertility if men if left untreated.
—Gonorrhea that goes untreated can actually spread to the blood or joints.
—People with gonorrhea can more easily contract HIV, they can transmit HIV more easily to someone else than if they did not have gonorrhea.
—If a pregnant woman has gonorrhea, she may give the infection to her baby as the baby passes through the birth canal during delivery. This can cause problems for the newborn, such as blindness, joint infection, or a blood infection - this is why pre-natal health care is SO IMPORTANT. Getting screened for all kinds of infections that could impact the health of your newborn and getting treated for them is essential.
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