Sexually transmitted diseases have been registering a constant and worrying increase in recent years. It is estimated that in Spain, 1 in 4 people will get a sexually transmitted infection before leaving school. It is important to know how they are transmitted and how to prevent them.
How are STDs transmitted?
Usually sexually transmitted diseases are transmitted through sexual contact, either through oral, anal or vaginal sex. There are some STDs that are also transmitted by blood contact, commonly when sharing objects such as syringes.
Other infections can be transmitted by direct contact with areas of the skin or infected mucous membranes, such as genital herpes.
There are several main causes of sexually transmitted infections:
Bacteria, including chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.
Virus, which includes HIV, genital herpes virus, human papilloma virus or hepatitis virus.
Fungi and protozoan parasites, such as scabies mites, crabs or trichomonas vaginalis, which causes trichomoniasis.
How to prevent STDs
The only 100% effective way is to avoid all kinds of sexual contact, whether oral, anal or vaginal, if there is no sex there is no STD.
But if you are sexually active, the best way to prevent sexually transmitted infections is to use condoms, female condoms or mouth barriers.
It is important to perform tests periodically to detect early infections and be able to treat them properly.
Usually if they are detected early they are treated with antibiotics and do not pose a major problem. In the case of people infected with STDs caused by viruses, they will be infected for life, with the risk of infecting their partners, although many treatments for viruses significantly reduce this risk.
In Centro Médico Aragón we advise the use of condoms in every sexual encounter, in addition to frequently performing gynecological examinations, frequent medical check-ups and consulting any suspicious symptom with the specialist.