SEX AND SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES: HOW WOULD YOU KNOW IF YOU HAD AN STD?
If you’re lucky you will get symptoms like an unusual discharge from the vagina or penis; painful intercourse; sores, lumps, blisters or rashes on the genitals; burning or stinging when you pass urine and so on.
If you’re a little less lucky you won’t have symptoms but your partner will and they will tell you about it so that you can both be checked out and treated. One of the ways we can minimize the damage and prevent an STD spreading is a procedure known as ‘contact tracing’. This is where a person who finds out they have a sexually transmissible disease makes sure that any possible recent sexual contacts are notified that they are at risk and should be checked out or treated. ‘He was six foot two, blond and had a great smile’ is going to make it hard to identify a casual encounter, but you get the point.
Those who are even less lucky will not have a clue until it’s too late. Unfortunately with some infections, like chlamydia, a lot of people will fall into this last category. You can look and feel completely healthy and still have an STD. Because of this, it pays to have what we in the business call ‘a high index of suspicion’. If you think there is a possibility that you have been in contact with an infected person, or you have had unprotected intercourse with a new partner, it’s worth getting a checkup just to be sure.
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