These include: Your age. Babies and older adults tend to get sicker quicker. Your overall health. If you have a condition such as diabetes, HIV, cancer, or heart disease, you may need to pay closer attention to certain symptoms and seek care sooner.
Medicines you take. Certain medicines, such as blood thinners anticoagulants , medicines that suppress the immune system like steroids or chemotherapy, or natural health products can cause symptoms or make them worse. Recent health events , such as surgery or injury. These kinds of events can cause symptoms afterwards or make them more serious. Your health habits and lifestyle , such as eating and exercise habits, smoking, alcohol or drug use, sexual history, and travel.
Try Home Treatment You have answered all the questions. Try home treatment to relieve the symptoms. Call your doctor if symptoms get worse or you have any concerns for example, if symptoms are not getting better as you would expect.
You may need care sooner. In females, symptoms of an STI sexually transmitted infection may include: New vaginal discharge. Pain or burning when urinating. Pain in the pelvis or lower belly.
Women may notice this during sex. Itching, tingling, burning, or pain in the genital or anal area. Sores, lumps, blisters, rashes, or warts in the genital or anal area. Sores in the mouth or throat. In males, symptoms of an STI sexually transmitted infection may include: Pain or burning when you urinate.
New discharge from the penis. Pain, swelling, or tenderness in the scrotum. Seek Care Now Based on your answers, you may need care right away. Call your doctor now to discuss the symptoms and arrange for care.
If you cannot reach your doctor or you don't have one, seek care in the next hour. You do not need to call an ambulance unless: You cannot travel safely either by driving yourself or by having someone else drive you. You are in an area where heavy traffic or other problems may slow you down. Seek Care Today Based on your answers, you may need care soon.
Call your doctor today to discuss the symptoms and arrange for care. If you cannot reach your doctor or you don't have one, seek care today. If it is evening, watch the symptoms and seek care in the morning. If the symptoms get worse, seek care sooner.
Home Treatment Home treatment is never an appropriate treatment for a sexually transmitted infection STI. Evaluation by a health professional is needed for: Any changes or symptoms in the genital area that suggest an STI.
A known or suspected exposure to an STI. These resources include: Your local sexual health clinic. Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights www. The Public Health Agency of Canada www. These infections may threaten the life of your baby or cause serious long-term problems or disabilities. Symptoms to watch for Call your doctor if symptoms persist or become more severe or frequent.
Prevention You can take measures to reduce your risk of becoming infected with a sexually transmitted infection STI. Practice safer sex Preventing a sexually transmitted infection STI is easier than treating an infection after it occurs.
Talk with your partner about STIs before beginning a sexual relationship. Find out whether he or she is at risk for an STI. Remember that it is quite possible to be infected with an STI without knowing it. Ask your partner the following questions. How many sex partners has he or she had? What high-risk behaviours does he or she have? Has he or she ever had an STI? Was it treated and cured? If the STI is not curable, what is the best way to protect yourself? Be responsible.
Don't have more than one sex partner at a time. Your risk of an STI increases if you have several sex partners at the same time. Some STIs can also be spread through oral-to-genital or genital-to-anal sexual contact. Abstain from sexual intercourse to prevent any exposure to STIs. Condom use Condoms can protect you against sexually transmitted infections STIs. Male condom use Using condoms reduces the risk of becoming infected with most STIs, especially if the condoms are used correctly and consistently.
Use a water-based lubricant such as K-Y Jelly to help prevent tearing of the skin if there is a lack of lubrication with condom use during sexual intercourse. Small tears in the vagina during vaginal sex or in the rectum during anal sex allow STIs to get into your blood. Do not use petroleum jelly as a lubricant with condoms, because it dissolves the latex in condoms. Use a male condom for vaginal or anal sex. Female condom use Even if you are using another birth control method to prevent pregnancy, you may wish to use condoms to reduce your risk of getting an STI.
A person with undetectable HIV must continue to follow their treatment plan exactly as the doctor prescribes to keep virus levels low.
Human papillomavirus HPV refers to a group of viruses that affect the skin and mucous membranes, such as the throat, cervix, anus, and mouth. There are various types, and some pose a higher risk than others. HPV is common. It affects around 79 million people in the United States. Nearly everyone who is sexually active will have HPV at some point in their lives, unless they have received a vaccination to prevent it.
Many people experience no symptoms, but in these cases, it is still possible for the virus to spread. Molluscum contagiosum is a contagious viral skin infection that is usually benign. It can affect both adults and children. Doctors consider it an STI when it occurs in adults but not when it occurs in young children. Experts believe that it is a type of pox. Among adults, transmission tends to occur through skin-to-skin contact or lesions, usually during sexual activity.
Symptoms include small, round bumps and indents on the skin. There may only be one of these. The bump or bumps usually disappear without treatment, but this can take time, and they remain contagious while present.
Some ways of removing the bumps include taking certain prescription medications, applying chemicals or an electrical current, or freezing them. Using a barrier method of contraception can help prevent the transmission of the virus. Anyone who has the virus should wash their hands carefully after touching an affected area of skin to prevent the spread of the virus to another part of the body or another person.
Learn more about molluscum contagiosum here. Scabies is a contagious skin condition that develops due to Sarcoptes scabiei , which is a mite. This condition can cause a pimple-like rash to appear anywhere on the body.
The first time a person has scabies, the symptoms may appear after 2—6 weeks of exposure. If they have scabies again, symptoms can appear 1—4 days after exposure. Scabies can spread before a person even knows that they have it.
Transmission usually occurs through skin-to-skin contact and due to sharing items such as towels and bedding. A doctor can prescribe topical creams that kill the mites. While a person has scabies, they should avoid skin-to-skin contact with others. Once it has cleared up, they should decontaminate any personal items, including all bedding and clothes. Syphilis stems from an infection with the bacterium Treponema pallidum.
It is a potentially serious infection, and early treatment is necessary to prevent permanent damage and long-term complications. There are usually four stages.
In the first stage, a person may notice a round, firm sore at the site of the infection, usually around the genitals, anus, rectum, or mouth. This tends to last for 3—6 weeks. The sore may not be visible, since it is often painless and may be hidden, for example, in the vagina.
The bacterium can spread at any point during the infection. Syphilis can also pass to a baby during pregnancy.
At the secondary stage , there may be:. In the latent stage, the symptoms disappear, but the bacteria remain in the body and can continue to cause damage. In the tertiary stage, life threatening complications can affect the brain, nervous system, eyes, heart, and several other organs.
Symptoms at this stage will depend on which part of the body the syphilis affects. The only way to confirm whether or not syphilis is present is by conducting a test. If the result is positive, the person should inform their sexual partner or partners, and they, too, should seek medical advice. Symptoms will appear around 21 days after the transmission of the bacteria, on average, but they can take between 10 and 90 days to appear.
Learn more about syphilis here. Gonorrhea is a common infection that develops due to the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Most STDs affect both men and women, but in many cases the health problems they cause can be more severe for women.
If a pregnant woman has an STD, it can cause serious health problems for the baby. STDs don't always cause symptoms or may only cause mild symptoms.
So it is possible to have an infection and not know it. But you can still pass it on to others. If you are sexually active, you should talk to your health care provider about your risk for STDs and whether you need to be tested. This is especially important since many STDs do not usually cause symptoms.
Some STDs may be diagnosed during a physical exam or through microscopic examination of a sore or fluid swabbed from the vagina, penis, or anus.
Blood tests can diagnose other types of STDs. Antibiotics can treat STDs caused by bacteria or parasites. It's also spread by contact with infected blood or contaminated needles. People with advanced HIV infection are very susceptible to many life-threatening diseases and to certain forms of cancer.
These can happen on the inside or outside parts of the genitals and rectum. They may spread to the nearby skin or to a sex partner. HPV infection does not always cause warts. So you may not know you are infected. Women with an HPV infection have a higher risk of cervical cancer. Regular Pap tests can find HPV infection, as well as abnormal cervical cells. An HPV vaccine is available to help prevent cervical cancer and genital warts.
This vaccine is advised starting at age But it can be given as young as age 9. Discuss this with your child's healthcare provider. There is treatment for genital warts.
These sometimes go away on their own. But the virus remains and warts can come back. Some types of HPV can also cause warts called common warts on other body parts such as the hands. But these do not generally cause health problems. Chlamydial infections, the most common of all STIs, can affect both men and women.
They may cause an abnormal genital discharge, burning with urination, and rectal discharge and bleeding. In women, untreated chlamydial infection may lead to pelvic inflammatory disease PID. This is an infection of the uterus, fallopian tubes, and other reproductive organs.
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