Sexually transmitted infections Flashcards
STIs
- Reporting not accurate
- Person-to-person transfer: oral, genitalia, urinary meatus, rectum, skin, mother to fetus
- Increasing frequency in teenage population: often more than one type
- Resistance is developing
- Viral forms are not curable as yet
- Organisms don’t survive long outside host!
STI Treatment
- Sexual partners must be identified and treated
- Abstinence during therapy
Genital Warts (condylomata acuminata) & transmission
- Human papillomavirus (HPV)
- Increased incidence
Transmission - Fomites
- Mother to newborn
- Mucosal/skin to mucosal/skin
- Mother to newborn
Genital Warts Risk Factors and Progression
Risk Factors
- <25 years old
- Early first intercourse (<16 years old)
- Increased number of partners
Progression
- Transient or persistent
- Incubation is 1-8 months
- May be asysmptomatic
- Cervical is rare
Genital Warts Appearance
External
- Soft raised fleshy lesions, or small bumps or flat rough surfaced areas on external genitalia (male & female)
Internal
- Cauliflower-shaped lesions causing discomfort, bleeding, painful intercourse
Genital Warts Tx.
- Vaccine recently developed
- Antimitotic agent necrosing wart tissue
- Cryotherapy: treatment of choice (freezing)
- Surgical excision
- Laser vaporization
- Electrocautery
- Notification of partners
Genital Herpes
- Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) - 2
- Incubation is 2 – 12 days
- Neurotropic virus
- Grows in neurons
- Latent form moves up via peripheral nerves; dormant in dorsal root ganglia
- Reactivates and spreads down neuron
- Alters when replicating from dormant state
Genital Herpes Risk Factors
- Highly contagious!
- Spread by people unaware they have it
Risk Factors
- Women
- Increased sexual partners
- Compromised immune system
Genital Herpes: symptoms, primary infection, triggers
Symptoms - itching, tingling, painful to touch - Dysuria, dyspareunia - “Wet” vesicle eventually crusts over Primary Infection - h/a, malaise, muscle aches, lymphadenopathy Recurring episodes – less severe Triggers - stress, sleep loss, overexertion, other infections, prolonged coitus, menstrual distress
Genital Herpes Tx.
acyclovir
Candidiasis
- Candida albicans
Yeast infection/Thrush/Moniliasis - Present in healthy women
- Activated when vaginal environment altered
- 75% of women
- Usually not transmitted sexually (not an “official” SDI)
Candidiasis Risk factors, manifestations, treatment
Risk Factors
- Decreased normal bacterial flora (antibiotics)
- Altered hormonal levels (BCPs, pregnancy)
- Decreased immune system
- Diabetes Mellitus
- HIV infection
Manifestations
- thick, white, odorless discharge
- Irritation, erythema, swelling, dysuria
Treatment: antifungal
Trichomoniasis & Risk factors
- Trichomonas vaginalis Transmitted via: - Sexual contact - Fomites (hot tubs, swimming pools) - Currently very prevalent - Men harbor organism but are asymptomatic
Risk Factors - Diagnosed with other STIs
Trichomoniasis: Manifestations
Women
- Sometimes asymptomatic
- Frothy, malodorous green/yellow discharge
- Erythema/edema of mucosa
- Itching, irritation
- Hemorrhagic cervical “strawberry spots”
Men
- Harbour organisms in urethra & prostate but are almost always asymptomatic
Trichomoniasis complications
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
- Infertility, PID & premature births (women)
- Infertility, chronic prostatitis & urethritis (men)