Sex, a topic that has long been a subject of secrecy and shyness, is now showing its complex and multi-faceted face in today’s society. Instead of being coy and shy about it, the topic of sex has become entertaining, commodified, and a topic of conversation when friends get together. The number of people infected with STDs has continued to grow at an alarming rate since the liberalization of sexual culture, but what remains unchanged is that STDs have always been a frightening disease for people. Every day in my clinic there are a large number of patients, for various reasons infected with STDs, so only the correct sexual health education, comprehensive knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases, in order to scientifically and adequately defend the correct sexual behavior and sexual morality norms, only to raise their own attention to STDs, in order to avoid the occurrence of disease. Fear alone cannot help us establish a correct concept of reproductive health, and we can’t just adopt avoidance methods to eliminate the enjoyment of normal sexual pleasure. For the doctor all the treatment is in the disease after the occurrence of the start, then for the prevention of disease prevention initiative is really grasp in the hands of everyone. Speaking of prevention, we must first figure out how the disease actually occurs? December 1 is the World AIDS Day, taking advantage of this important day of popularity in the field of sexually transmitted diseases, combined with the knowledge of conventional sexually transmitted diseases to give you an introduction, I hope you can gain. First, what is a sexually transmitted disease? Sexually transmitted diseases are diseases spread through various sexual contacts and sexual behaviors, which are the most common group of infectious diseases in human beings at present. The 2014 National Statutory Infectious Disease Epidemic Situation published data: in 2014, there were 419,000 cases of syphilis and 96,000 cases of gonorrhea nationwide, which were in the top five of the number of incidence of Class B infectious diseases. The actual number of cases was even higher because of underreporting. Especially in recent years, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) have become a major means of transmission of AIDS. Traditional STDs include diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea, nongonococcal urethritis, condyloma acuminatum, genital herpes, AIDS, soft chancre, and venereal lymphogranuloma. Syphilis, gonorrhea, non-gonococcal urethritis and condyloma acuminatum are the four major public health hazards of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Syphilis, gonorrhea, non-gonococcal urethritis and condyloma acuminatum are the four diseases that have a high STD morbidity rate in China, and they account for more than 95% of the total morbidity rate, making them the four major public health hazards of STDs. In particular, in the past decade, the number of syphilis in our country has risen dramatically, in recent years, almost 30% to 50% annual rate of increase. What are the symptoms of these diseases, how to spread, and how do we prevent it? 1, the fastest onset of STDs – gonorrhea Gonorrhea is caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a purulent infection of the genitourinary system. Gonococcus is a gram-negative diplococcus, which is suitable for growth at 35~36℃ in warm, moist conditions containing 5%~7% carbon dioxide, so the urethra and vagina of the genitourinary system are ideal habitats for gonococcus, which is very suitable for growth and reproduction. However, gonococcus has a poor ability to survive outside the body, and can only survive for 1~2 hours in a completely dry environment, and 1~2 days at room temperature. Gonococcus attached to the pus in the patient’s underwear can survive for 18 to 24 hours. Boiling and exposure to the sun can completely sterilize and disinfect. General disinfectants can also completely kill gonococcus. Infection: Gonorrhea is mainly spread through sexual intercourse. If you have sexual intercourse with a gonorrhea patient or carrier, there is a 20% chance for a man to get gonorrhea and a 90% chance for a woman to get infected. As women’s genitals are more hidden than men’s, and the warm and moist environment is more suitable for the growth and reproduction of the virus, so I always say that girls must learn to protect themselves. Symptoms: Gonorrhea occurs most often in sexually active young men and women. Symptoms will appear in 2 to 5 days once infected. For men, the beginning of the performance of the urethral opening red, swollen, thin mucus or mucopurulent secretion, and soon become yellow and thick, the formation of “paste mouth phenomenon”, urinary urgency, frequent urination, painful urination. For women, can appear urethritis, but not as heavy as men, the main manifestation of endocervicitis, cervical redness, swelling, tenderness, cervical pus discharge, leukorrhea, lower abdominal discomfort, pain. Because the symptoms are not as obvious as urethritis, they are often mistaken for general gynecological diseases and do not go for examination and treatment. If allowed to develop, resulting in pelvic inflammatory disease, some can lead to female infertility. Prevention: Towels, bedding, underwear, especially wet clothes or towels contaminated with pus from gonorrhea patients. Since gonococcus bacteria can survive for about 24 hours, it is possible to be infected after contact. In the same household, washbasins and towels used for washing the lower body should be separated from each other. People with gonorrhea wash their hands before and after using the toilet. Women with gonorrhea during pregnancy and untreated gonorrhea can cause infection in newborns. 2, hidden sexually transmitted diseases – non-gonococcal urethritis The most common of its pathogens is chlamydia, which proliferates in large quantities in the epithelial cells of the urethra or the epithelial cells of the cervical canal, causing the symptoms of urethritis or cervicitis. Symptoms: It mainly occurs in sexually active young men and women, and in the outpatient clinic, men are predominant. There are two characteristics: first, the onset is slow and the inflammation is mild. Symptoms appear only after an incubation period of 1~3 weeks after infection. And the symptoms are lighter than those of gonorrhea, with men showing a tingling or burning sensation in the urethra, mild urgency and pain of urination, some redness of the urethral orifice, and thin secretions. About 1/3 of patients have insignificant or even no symptoms. In addition to the appearance of urethritis in women, more common is cervicitis, mainly manifested as increased leukorrhea, lower abdominal discomfort, sometimes vulvar itching, cervical opening of varying degrees of redness and swelling. It should be pointed out that most people have insignificant or no symptoms and think that it is a general gynecological disease and do not go for treatment. Therefore, when there is unclean sex, the body appears abnormal, should be timely treatment. 3, easy to recurring sexually transmitted diseases – warts Its pathogen is human papilloma virus (HPV), widely available in nature, is now known to have more than 100 subtypes. According to the degree of harm to the human body can be simply divided into low-risk type and high-risk type two, in addition, it should be noted that persistent high-risk HPV virus infection is a necessary condition leading to cervical cancer, such as type 16, type 18, type 52, type 58, type 68 and so on. Route of infection: mainly transmitted through sexual contact. HPV viruses are easy to survive in hot and humid environments, so the epithelium of the vulva becomes a good habitat for them. Especially men who are circumcised and women who have excessive leukorrhea are prone to contract warts if they have unclean sex. In addition to sexual contact, a few cases can be transmitted through indirect contact with items contaminated by people with condyloma acuminatum, such as underwear, bathtubs and towels. Symptoms: HPV can only parasitize human epithelial cells, with an incubation period of 3 weeks to half a year. Parasitized in the epithelium of the genitourinary tract, bulging to form warts. Males are mostly found in the coronary groove, both sides of the prepuce tie, foreskin, glans; females are mostly found in the posterior union of the vagina, the vaginal opening, the labia majora and minora, and can also be seen in the vagina and cervix. In addition, the perianal area is also a good place for warts. In the early stages of the disease, it is a small reddish soft papule, the size of a sesame seed grain is higher than the surface of the skin or mucous membrane, and then slowly proliferate, and become a fusion of cauliflower-like, cockleshaped. The actual fact is that there is usually no self-consciousness, and occasionally there can be itching due to inflammation stimulation. The reason why warts are easy to recur: warts are easy to recur after treatment, some patients repeated treatment, back and forth, people are very distressed. This is because most of the current treatment is to destroy the warts visible to the naked eye, and did not pay attention to the source of disease – HPV virus removal, and most of the virus in the early lesions or latent period, thus becoming a fish in the net. The other reason is that only one of the sexual partners has been treated, and the other partner, although there are no visible warts, is in a carrier state and is still contagious. This is particularly prominent in women, because in women warts not only occur in the vulva, but also in the vagina and cervix. 4, the most harmful sexually transmitted diseases – syphilis The pathogen of syphilis is the pallid spirochete. Infection: mainly through direct sexual contact. If a patient with syphilis is untreated, it is most infectious within 1 to 2 years after infection, especially if there are ulcers on the genitals and warts around the anus. Close contact with syphilis patients, such as kissing and sharing bath towels, can also be infectious. Another route of transmission is from mother to child. Symptoms: The course of the disease can be divided into three stages. The first stage is 2 to 4 weeks after the virus enters the body, and an ulcer often appears on the external genital area. The ulcer of stage 1 syphilis can be healed after a few weeks even without treatment, but the syphilis spirochete has quietly entered the blood circulation and spread all over the body. 6~8 weeks later, a rash appears on the skin, and in fact, the germs have already invaded all tissues and organs, which is when the disease becomes stage 2 syphilis. If left untreated, the symptoms of stage 2 syphilis can disappear naturally by relying on the patient’s own immunity, and the germs are mostly eliminated by the collective immune system. However, some viruses can lurk, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Stage I and II syphilis both occur within two years of infection and are also known as early syphilis. Early syphilis if not treated, there will be about half of the patients outside the infection within 5 to 10 years will appear three or late syphilis symptoms, three syphilis lesions in the depths of the destructive, can occur in the skin, mucous membranes, bones, heart, etc., invasion of the heart leads to syphilitic aortic atresia, syphilitic aortic aneurysm, etc., which can lead to heart failure or rupture of the aorta and death. Third, the plague of the 20th century – AIDS AIDS discovered in the 1980s is also a sexually transmitted disease, in just two decades, AIDS “invincible”, has swept the world, resulting in millions of deaths, and therefore also known as the “plague of the 20th century”. It is also known as the “plague of the 20th century”. According to China’s National Health Planning Commission, China reported 104,000 new cases of HIV infections and patients in 2014, and the number of people infected with HIV in 2014 increased by 14.8 percent compared to 2013, according to China’s National Health Planning Commission. Due to its large population, China is at a low prevalence level in terms of the proportional prevalence of the AIDS epidemic, but in terms of absolute numbers, it is among the countries with more severe epidemics. 1, Disease Overview The AIDS virus, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is a virus that attacks the human immune system, after infection, the human immune system is destroyed, the body loses resistance to various infections and oncological diseases and develops diseases, which, if left untreated, will eventually lead to death. Once HIV enters the human body, it integrates with the genes of the cells, and the human body has no ability to separate it, not to mention the ability to kill it, so HIV has become a kind of virus that “integrates with the genes of the human body”. Like other viruses, the human immune system produces anti-AIDS antibodies after exposure to HIV, but these antibodies have no protective effect on the human body, and thus cannot prevent HIV from reproducing and spreading. The difference between AIDS and other viruses lies in its strong mutation ability, a virus can replicate 10 billion viruses in a day, and the probability of genetic mutation is one in ten thousand, so it makes the research and development of vaccines very difficult, and no vaccine has been successfully developed yet. 2, the infection pathway AIDS is mainly transmitted through sexual contact, blood and mother-to-child transmission of these three ways. Sexual transmission: unprotected anal, vaginal and oral sex. Blood-to-blood transmission: importation of HIV-contaminated blood or blood products, acceptance of organs and semen from HIV-infected patients. Vertical transmission: An infected woman may pass HIV to her fetus after pregnancy, during labor and delivery, or while breastfeeding. Sexual transmission is the main way of HIV transmission, HIV exists in body fluids, blood, semen, vaginal secretions, minor injuries to the skin and mucous membranes, as long as there is contact with these, there is a possibility that the HIV virus will enter the body and become infected. 3, clinical symptoms After human infection with HIV, in a fairly long period of time, there are no obvious signs and symptoms, therefore, from the self-feeling and appearance can not confirm whether the infection. Whoever wants to know whether he or she is infected with HIV must check for HIV antibodies in the blood, and only a positive diagnosis can confirm the diagnosis. In the case of babies, however, the situation is different. If the mother is infected with HIV, the baby may be born with HIV antibodies from the mother. A positive test result does not mean that the fetus is infected. Maternal antibodies disappear when the baby reaches 9 to 18 months of age. Therefore, it is recommended to measure HIV antibodies at 18 months of age. If the test result is negative, the baby is considered HIV-free. How to prevent sexually transmitted diseases? The occurrence and prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases are closely related to social and economic factors, so the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases should be considered from various aspects of society and individuals. 1. Social prevention: Strengthening health education, so that people will have a correct understanding of sexual behavior, fixing sexual partners, and trying not to have sexual intercourse with people they don’t know. Health administrative departments should strictly control the quality of blood and blood products to ensure safety. 2, personal prevention: cleanliness, do not engage in non-marital sex; to take safe sex: the correct use of quality and reliable condoms; usually pay attention to personal hygiene, the circumcision of the foreskin can be done to help prevent infection. Do not take drugs, do not share syringes and needles with others; must be transfused or use blood products, to confirm that the blood and blood products used have been rigorously tested; there are ulcers, rashes and other suspicious symptoms in a timely manner to the regular hospital to seek medical treatment, so that early discovery, early treatment, early cure, do not leave any future problems; spouses with sexually transmitted infections should be promptly examined in the hospital, it is best to do not have sex during the period of treatment, the need for the use of condoms; general Daily life will not transmit infectious diseases, but should do a good job of cleaning and hygiene within the family, to prevent the contamination of clothing and other household items, such as sun wash bedding, patients underwear do not mix with the children’s wash, adults, children sleep in separate beds, separate use of the bathtub, toilet seat scrubbing every day, etc.; if you are considering getting married, pregnancy, it is best to wait for the STDs to be completely cured, the body to recover for a period of time is more desirable. 3, adhere to the use of condoms: condoms can provide a physical barrier to avoid direct contact with the body fluids or blood of sexual partners, can effectively reduce the risk of STDs and AIDS transmission. However, incorrect use or not adhere to the use of condoms can make its preventive effect is greatly reduced, clinical often reported that patients with sexually transmitted diseases use condoms also got sexually transmitted diseases, careful questioning, it turns out to be sometimes used, sometimes not, and even slipped, rupture, and there are in the ejaculation before wearing, these incorrect practices have increased the chances of contracting sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS!