The hidden symptoms of sexually transmitted infections
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) give way to a variety of often very unobtrusive, hidden symptoms, especially in women. Thus, it’s crucial to diagnose and treat STIs early to avoid the serious after-effects that some of them can cause.
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Certain symptoms or circumstances, too, should warn you and lead to you consult your doctor without delay. Learn more…
When should I consult a doctor?
First of all, it should be clear that if you have unprotected sex with a person who has known STI risk factors (for example a drug-addict who shares needles or someone with multiple sexual partners), or, in principle, with a person who you know has one of these diseases, it means that you run the risk of becoming infected yourself.
If you are in any doubt at all, it is best to ask your doctor’s advice and go to a screening centre, where an examination and some tests will be carried out to see if you have a genital infection, or Hepatitis B virus or HIV.
If you have had unprotected sex or a condom split during sex with a HIV-positive partner, a preventive treatment may possibly be started as long as it is undertaken immediately after sex has taken place.
STI symptoms that should never be ignored
In the most typical cases, syphilis shows up as an ulcer (chancre), three weeks after contact with an infected person, and gonorrhoea and Chlamydia infections show up in men as a discharge from the tip of the penis (urethral discharge). But all these infections may go completely unnoticed, not presenting any tangible symptoms.
- Any abnormal genital symptom must be taken seriously. It could be painful sex, vaginal discharge or bleeding between periods, pelvic pain in women, urethral discharge in men, a stinging sensation when passing urine or various genital or anal lesions.
- Any visible abnormality, ulcer, erosion, spots or warts should be considered in principle as a sign of a sexually transmitted infection and should lead you to consult your doctor.
- It is just as important for the partners of STI infected people to be screened too (even if they believe they have been careful), and if need be treated, obviously to prevent other people becoming infected, but also to stop any infection becoming a serious one.
In fact, danger lurks when complications develop unobtrusively, in particular, sterility in infected women. This is even more of a risk since often it is only with a physical examination by a gynaecologist can spot any abnormalities.
Copyright © 2009 Doctissimo
Posted 22.07.2010
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