STIs (sexually transmitted infections) are infections that you can get from having sex with someone who has the infection. The causes of STIs are bacteria, parasites and viruses.
Recent CDC data shows a continued high burden of STIs, particularly among Black Americans.
There are more than 20 types of STIs, including:
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are one of the most critical health challenges facing the nation today. CDC estimates there are 19 million new infections every year in the United States at a cost of $17 billion to the U.S health care system each year. CDC’s data is based on the three STIs that physicians are required to report – gonorrhea, Chlamydia, and syphilis, which represent only a fraction of the true burden of STIs. Estimates suggest that even though young people aged 15-24 years represent only 25% of the sexually experienced population, they acquire nearly 50% of all new STIs.
Correct usage of latex condoms greatly reduces, but does not completely eliminate, the risk of catching or spreading STIs.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs); Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)
Sexually transmitted infections can be caused by:
Sexual activity plays a role in spreading many other infectious agents, although it’s possible to be infected without sexual contact. Examples include the hepatitis A and B viruses, shigella, cryptosporidium and Giardia lamblia.
Chlamydia Symptoms
Chlamydia is a bacterial infection of your genital tract. Chlamydia may be difficult for you to detect because early-stage infections often cause few or no signs and symptoms. When they do occur, they usually start one to three weeks after you’ve been exposed to chlamydia. Even when signs and symptoms do occur, they’re often mild and passing, making them easy to overlook.
Signs and symptoms may include:
Gonorrhea Symptoms
Gonorrhea is a bacterial infection of your genital tract. The first gonorrhea symptoms generally appear within two to 10 days after exposure. However, some people may be infected for months before signs or symptoms occur. Signs and symptoms of gonorrhea may include:
Trichomoniasis Symptoms
Trichomoniasis is a common sexually transmitted disease caused by a microscopic, one-celled parasite called Trichomonas vaginalis. This organism spreads during sexual intercourse with someone who already has the infection. The organism usually infects the urinary tract in men, but often causes no symptoms in men. Trichomoniasis typically infects the vagina in women and may cause these signs and symptoms:
HIV Symptoms
HIV is an infection with the human immunodeficiency virus. HIV interferes with your body’s ability to effectively fight off viruses, bacteria and fungi that cause disease, and it can lead to AIDS, a chronic, life-threatening disease.
When first infected with HIV, you may have no symptoms at all. Some people develop a flu-like illness, usually two to six weeks after being infected. Early HIV signs and symptoms may include:
These early signs and symptoms usually disappear within a week to a month and are often mistaken for those of another viral infection. During this period, you are very infectious. More persistent or severe symptoms of HIV infection may not appear for 10 years or more after the initial infection.
As the virus continues to multiply and destroy immune cells, you may develop mild infections or chronic signs and symptoms such as:
Signs and symptoms of later-stage HIV infection include:
Genital Herpes Symptoms
Genital herpes is highly contagious and caused by a type of the herpes simplex virus (HSV). HSV enters your body through small breaks in your skin or mucous membranes. Most people with HSV never know they have it, because they have no signs or symptoms. The signs and symptoms of HSV can be so mild they go unnoticed. When signs and symptoms are noticeable, the first episode is generally the worst. Some people never experience a second episode. Other people, however, can experience episodes over a period of decades.
When present, genital herpes signs and symptoms may include:
The initial symptom of genital herpes usually is pain or itching, beginning within a few weeks after exposure to an infected sexual partner. After several days, small, red bumps may appear. They then rupture, becoming ulcers that ooze or bleed. Eventually, scabs form and the ulcers heal.
In women, sores can erupt in the vaginal area, external genitals, buttocks, anus or cervix. In men, sores can appear on the penis, scrotum, buttocks, anus or thighs, or inside the urethra, the tube from the bladder through the penis.
While you have ulcers, it may be painful to urinate. You may also experience pain and tenderness in your genital area until the infection clears. During an initial episode, you may have flu-like signs and symptoms, such as headache, muscle aches and fever, as well as swollen lymph nodes in your groin.
In some cases, the infection can be active and contagious even when sores aren’t present.
Genital Warts (HPV infection) Symptoms
Genital warts, caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), are one of the most common types of STIs. The signs and symptoms of genital warts include:
Often, however, genital warts cause no symptoms. Genital warts may be as small as 1 millimeter in diameter or may multiply into large clusters.
In women, genital warts can grow on the vulva, the walls of the vagina, the area between the external genitals and the anus, and the cervix. In men, they may occur on the tip or shaft of the penis, the scrotum, or the anus. Genital warts can also develop in the mouth or throat of a person who has had oral sex with an infected person.
Hepatitis Symptoms
Hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C are all contagious viral infections that affect your liver. Hepatitis B and C are the most serious of the three, but each can cause your liver to become inflamed.
Some people never develop signs or symptoms. But for those who do, signs and symptoms may occur after several weeks and may include:
Syphilis Symptoms
Syphilis is a bacterial infection. The disease affects your genitals, skin and mucous membranes, but it may also involve many other parts of your body, including your brain and your heart.
The signs and symptoms of syphilis may occur in four stages — primary, secondary, latent and tertiary.
Primary These signs may occur from 10 days to three months after exposure:
Signs and symptoms of primary syphilis typically disappear without treatment, but the underlying disease remains and may reappear in the second (secondary) or third (tertiary) stage.
Secondary signs and symptoms of secondary syphilis may begin two to 10 weeks after the chancre appears, and may include:
These signs and symptoms may disappear within a few weeks or repeatedly come and go for as long as a year.
Latent: In some people, a period called latent syphilis — in which no symptoms are present — may follow the secondary stage. Signs and symptoms may never return, or the disease may progress to the tertiary stage.
Tertiary : Without treatment, syphilis bacteria may spread, leading to serious internal organ damage and death years after the original infection.
Some of the signs and symptoms of tertiary syphilis include:
If your sexual history and current signs and symptoms suggest that you have an STI, laboratory tests can identify the cause and detect coinfections you might also have contracted.
• Blood tests. Blood tests can confirm the diagnosis of HIV or later stages of syphilis.
• Urine samples. Some STIs can be confirmed with a urine sample.
• Fluid samples. If you have active genital sores, testing fluid and samples from the sores may be done to diagnose the type of infection. Laboratory tests of material from a genital sore or discharge are used to diagnose the most common bacterial and some viral STIs at an early stage.
Testing for a disease in someone who doesn’t have symptoms is called screening. Most of the time, STI screening is not a routine part of health care. But there are exceptions:
