I talked to two sexual health experts about the high rates of STDs among young people and the importance of getting tested.
By Frank Reed, 17, Animo Locke HS
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s STD Program. What stuck out to me the most was hearing that females have a greater chance of getting STDs and that they have more STDs than males. I always thought that guys had more STDs. I realized it’s important to get accurate information because what you believe is not always right. This is part 2 of a 3 part series.
L.A. Youth: Are any contraceptives 100 percent effective in preventing STDs?
Guerry: Yes. Condoms are 100 percent effective at preventing STDs if used consistently and correctly for bacterial STDs (anything that is spread by fluids). So that’s chlamydia and gonorrhea. Unfortunately for herpes and HPV, it significantly decreases your risk but it’s not 100 percent. If the condom is not covering the area where they have the herpes, it’s not going to protect you.
Delia Hernandez: The use of lubricant would be a good idea because you’re cutting back on friction so if things are slippery and slidey, you don’t have the propensity for those tears, which allow the virus to enter the body.
Guerry: In fact, lubricant is a good idea for any kind of sex with condoms. They’re less likely to break.
L.A. Youth: Are STDs treatable?
Guerry: Yes. All STDs are treatable. Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis can all be treated and even cured. Things like herpes, you can’t cure but you can give medicines to make the symptoms go away. And then of course [there’s] HIV, which is also a sexual transmitted infection. You can’t cure it but we have drugs out there [to control it].
L.A. Youth: How difficult is it to live with an STD?
Guerry: STDs are incredibly common so we need to be comfortable enough talking about it so that people can know that they need to get tested, know that they can go to the doctor and get treated because in the end, all of this is treatable and you can take care of yourself and your partner.
L.A. Youth: Do STDs hurt?
Guerry: Depends. The vast majority of women who have chlamydia have no symptoms so it doesn’t hurt. They don’t even know they have it. If it doesn’t get cured then they can have problems. It can cause discharge, it can hurt when you have sex.
Delia Hernandez: For chlamydia and gonorrhea, you can have pain during urination. However, not everybody gets symptoms. This is why STDs are passed around because people can have them and not even know they have them. They continuously have unprotected sex and pass it on to the next person. Herpes hurts because it’s that open lesion so it can cause pain. With HPV, which causes genital warts, you will have a small wart in your genital area and it doesn’t cause any pain.
Check back on October 3, 2011 for the 3rd part of this series.