April is STD Awareness Month

A Time to Get Yourself Tested for STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases)

April, along with being Alcohol Awareness Month, National Foot Health Awareness Month, and Humor Month, is… STD Awareness Month. Suffice it to mention, the facts, data, and consequences that necessitate STD Awareness Month differ just slightly from what makes up Humor Month.

Sexually transmitted diseases area not things the majority are planning to be excited to debate. That, of course, only adds to the importance of treating the month of April as STD Awareness Month seriously. It would not be fun to think about, talk about, however the matter is real and can solely intensify if the general attitude is to ignore it or pretend it doesn’t exist.

It exists, alright: each year in the U.S., nearly twenty million new cases of STDs occur. Those new cases price the country’s health-care system around $16 billion. Many these annual new cases won’t cause any serious damage, however some will and can cause serious health issues – together with physiological state. Lastly, those that contract and become infected with a sexually transmitted diseases instantly become additional prone to the human immunological disorder virus, usually called HIV. Being infected with genital herpes, as an example, triples your risk for catching HIV, if exposed.

So, STDs are real. Fine. What can you do regarding it?

Be responsible person, safe in the bedroom - Whether or not it’s matrimony, or limiting the quantity of individuals you’re sexually active with if you've got multiple partners, or using latex condoms and dental dams the proper means on every occasion you've got sex, be safe.

Get screened – Everybody ought to be tested between the ages of thirteen and sixty four at least once for HIV. Chlamydia screenings are counseled for all sexually active ladies twenty five and beneath annually. Gonorrhea disease screenings for at-risk sexually active ladies are counseled each year. Sexually active gay men ought to get screened a minimum of once per annum syphilis, HIV, chlamydia, and hepatitis B.

There is nothing to be embarrassed regarding once it involves obtaining screened for STDs. It’s the accountable factor to try to do. Still, if discretion could be a concern, it doesn’t need to be at Access Health. We have a tendency to take your privacy seriously. And STD screenings are available at all five Bay Area Access Health locations.

Increase your general awareness – AN applicable idea throughout STD Awareness Month, certainly. As an example, did you recognize that the 2 major culprits of the country’s current STD epidemic are chlamydia and human papillomavirus (HPV)? And did you recognize that chlamydia is definitely cured with antibiotics, whereas there's a particularly effective immunizing agent to forestall HPV transmission? Nonetheless, presumptively as a result of young Americans are merely unaware of those 2 facts, HPV shots aren't that wide administered. In 2011, solely 55 % of ladies between the ages of thirteen and seventeen received the HPV immunizing agent. Part of the reasoning for that low range may still be that parents - adults - continue to falsely believe the HPV shot isn’t safe, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Truly, the more you know, the better.

There’s nothing snug regarding discussing STDs (or STIs – sexually transmitted infections), however the matter can only get larger, and additional uncomfortable if we have a tendency to ignore it. Throughout April, then, why not take benefit of the actual fact that it's, after all, STD Awareness Month? Although it’s just you, by yourself, turning into additional awake to the pathological state STDs represent, that’s a start!