Reproductive Health — BIOLOGY STD 12 Science — Question

→ Diseases or infections which are transmitted through sexual intercourse are collectively called sexually transmitted diseases (STD) or venereal diseases (VD) or reproductive tract infections (RTI).
→ Gonorrhoea, syphills, genital herpes, chlamydiasis, genital warts, trichomoniasis, hepatitis-B and of course, the most discussed infection in the recent years, HIV leading to AIDS are some of the common STDs.
→ Among these HIV infection is most dangerous.
→ Some of these infections like hepatitis-B and HIV can also be transmitted by sharing injection needles, surgical instruments, etc., with infected persons, transfusion of blood, or from an infected mother to the foetus too.
→ Except for hepatitis-B, genital herpes and HIV infections, other diseases are completely curable if detected early and treated properly.
→ Early symptoms of most of these are,
→ minor and include itching
→ fluid discharge
→ slight pain
→ swelling
→ Infected females may often be asymptomatic and hence, may remain undetected for long.
→ Absence or less significant symptoms in the early stages of infection and the social stigma attached to the STDs, deter the infected persons from going for timely detection and proper treatment.
→ This could lead to complications later, which include:
→ Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
→ Abortions
→ Still birth
→ Ectopic pregnancies
→ Infertility
→ Cancer of the reproductive tract.