| By: John Trout
Less than half
of all adults 18 to 44 years of age in the
United States have been tested for a sexually
transmitted disease other than HIV. However,
an estimated 15 million people world wide
become infected with one or more sexually
transmitted diseases (STD) each year. In the
U.S. alone, more than 65 million people are
currently living with an STD and roughly half
of them have contracted an incurable lifelong
STD such as herpes.
Most sexually transmitted diseases fall into
one of two categories – Viral infections and
bacterial infections. Bacterial infections,
such as gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia are
curable with antibiotics. STDs caused by
viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV), human papilloma virus (HPV), herpes and
hepatitis B are not curable.
As far as bacterial STD's, Chlamydia is by far
the most common among women; most likely
because it is very contagious and difficult to
detect. In fact, an estimated 75 percent of
women and 50 percent of men with chlamydia
have no symptoms. All sexually active women
should ask to be tested with each Pap smear,
because untreated, chlamydia can cause
infertility or pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).
An estimated 2.8 million Americans are
infected with chlamydia each year. Luckily,
chlamydia, as well as gonorrhea and syphilis,
can be cured with antibiotics.
In 2002, 351,852 cases of gonorrhea were
reported to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC). In the United States,
approximately 75 percent of all reported cases
of gonorrhea are found in people aged 15 to 29
years. The highest rates of infection are
usually found in 15- to 19-year old women and
20- to 24-year-old men.
Once responsible for devastating epidemics,
the rate of primary and secondary syphilis in
the United States actually declined from 1990
to 2000 by 89.2 percent. However, there was
still a reported 5,979 cases of syphilis in
2000 and 6,103 in 2001 so syphilis is still
out there infecting people.
Of all the non-curable viral STD's our there,
HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is probably
the most feared; and for good reason. There
were nearly 45,000 New AIDS cases reported in
the U.S. in 2004 and a cumulative total of
over 500,000 people have died from HIV/AIDs in
the U.S. alone since the disease was first
diagnosed. Currently over 400,000 people in
the U.S. are living with HIV/AIDs right now.
That means about 1 out of every 700 U.S.
citizens has contracted HIV/AIDs.
Genital Herpes,
while not a potential death sentence like
HIV/AIDS, is however much more prolific. Some
estimates suggest that as many as 1 in 5
people may carry some form of the herpes virus
in their body. That is a staggering figure.
Forms of the herpes virus include cold sores,
genital herpes, chickenpox, mononucleosis and
shingles. Medical treatment can, however,
alleviate the symptoms of viral STDs such as
herpes and in some cases eliminate symptoms
without actually elimination the herpes virus
itself. About one million people become
infected with Herpes each year in the U.S.,
and an estimated 45 million are currently
infected with the herpes virus. An estimated
75 percent of the reproductive-age population
has been infected with sexually transmitted
HPV. Genital warts are caused by HPV, and can
lead to cervical and bladder cancers.
There’s no cure, but there is treatment.
Hepatitis B is the only STD out there that you
can get a vaccine for. See your doctor if
you’re not sure if you’ve been vaccinated.
Hepatitis B is a nasty STD that can cause
liver failure and death.
This article is
part of a free educational series of articles
written by John Trout, on the subject of the
herpes virus. To get the complete series,
simply send a blank email to: herpes@newsabout.info
Article Source:
http://www.herpes-pics.com/
**********************************************************
Web publisher & author: John Trout is a
full time internet research specialist and
webmaster for several informational websites
including: http://herbs-herbal-remedies.com
, http://newsabout.info
and http://herpes-pics.com
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