And for information on std testing, just click the link!

Andrew M.

Yet I’ve spent this month talking about a different sort of test – one that could help protect your health, and even save your life.

April was STD awareness month: a necessary distinction in a world where one in two sexually active people will get a sexually transmitted disease (STD) by the age of 25 — and most won’t even know it. Yet chances are you’ve been putting off getting tested for the very same reasons pop quizzes made you anxious — you’re terrified of the results.

Not getting tested for an STD won’t mean you don’t have one — it just means if you have one you won’t know about it. So do yourself and everyone in your life a favor. Don’t let another day go by without getting tested.

Before you convince yourself that you’re not at risk, consider the facts. The most recent national estimates suggest that there are approximately 19 million new cases of STIs each year, half of them among 15-24-year-olds, and that 65 million Americans have at least one viral STI, most commonly genital herpes. In New York City, the statistics are even higher. Our AIDS case rate is three times the national average — making New York the epicenter of the epidemic. Our rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and herpes are also far above the national average.

And when you break these numbers down by race or age, the statistics get even scarier. More than 80% of new HIV cases in 2008 were amongst men and women of color. For women, New York City’s highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea occur in teenage girls, age 15-19. Amongst men, boys aged 15-19 have the second highest rates, trumped only by those aged 20-24.

To be sure, education is important too. New York City still does not require sex ed to be taught in schools — a fact that’s atrocious when you consider that about one in three young people in grades 9-12 are currently sexually active, and nearly one in five report having had four or more sex partners so far in their lifetime. Only two-thirds of New York City’s sexually active youth report using condoms at all, and one in five girls did not use any birth control the last time they had sex.

Still, education doesn’t replace the need for testing. Many STDs are treatable — meaning the earlier they are detected, the earlier you can address them and the less serious they will become. A number of STDs are also symptomless — meaning you could have one right now and not even know it.

STD testing is safe and easy. Getting tested protects your health, and can even save your life. You owe it to yourself — get yourself tested.

Read the original article by Joan Malin on The Huffington Post.

What is asymptomatic?
Asymptomatic simply means you show no signs or symptoms of the infection. This is particularly true with Chlamydia. Many call Chlamydia the “silent” disease. Only about 25% of women with the disease show symptoms and about 50% of men.

This is what makes Chlamydia especially dangerous. Because there are no symptoms, you are unaware you have anything wrong with you. Unfortunately, this increases the chances of unknowingly passing the disease on. Chlamydia Testing can be performed to find out if you have the disease. And treatment can start right away if your result is positive.

What are symptoms of Chlamydia?
If you are showing symptoms, they might be:

Women

• nausea
• abnormal vaginal discharge
• lower abdominal pain
• burning sensation during urination
• pain with intercourse
• lower back pain
• fever
• -bleeding between periods

Men

• burning or itching around penis opening
• penile discharge
• testicular pain and swelling
• burning sensation during urination

What are adverse effects of Chlamydia?
Chlamydia, left untreated, can cause many serious adverse effects for both women and men.

For women, the untreated infection can spread to the reproductive organs and cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). This occurs in 40% of women when their Chlamydial infection is left untreated. What does PID do?

PID causes permanent damage to the fallopian tubes, the uterus, and surrounding tissue. Women may experience pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy, and infertility.

If a pregnant woman has Chlamydia, she can pass the disease to her baby during delivery. The baby can be born with conjunctivitis (pink eye), or sometimes pneumonia.

For men, complications are rare; but can occur. If the infection spreads to the tube that carries the sperm from the testis (the epididymis), a man can experience fever, pain, and sometimes sterility.

To help reduce the rapid rise of Chlamydia, the CDC recommends all sexually active women under 25 receive STD testing once a year for Chlamydia. A once a year test is also recommended for women 25 and over who have risk factors such as a new sex partner or many sex partners. If you are pregnant, you should have Chlamydia testing right away.
How is Chlamydia treated?
Chlamydia is curable. If you test positive, treatment is inexpensive, easy and safe. One dose of azithromycin or a weeklong dose of doxycycline (2 times a day) is the most commonly prescribed treatments.

To evade complications such as PID, the CDC recommends women be retested three to four months after initial treatment. Especially if she is unsure if her sex partner sought treatment.