STIs

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]All right. So, one of the topics that we will often see within human sexuality is about sexually transmitted infections and diseases. All right. So, STI or STDs. So, what we can see that these are infections transmitted primarily through some type of sexual contact uh contact.

[00:00:18]All right? They can be caused by u bacteria, viruses, um or parasites, right? So, these are actually pretty common. And unfortunately, what we're going to see in some cases that they can be asymptomatic for many people, right?

[00:00:32]That doesn't mean they're not causing a problem in the long term or can't be transmitted, but some people will not experience any any symptoms and not show any signs even though the infection is there. All right? So, even when you're healthy and not experiencing anything, you can still be transmitting that infection to other people. Okay? So as far as um prevalence right these are some of the most common things that we see as far as infectious diseases across the world right with a particular group seeing very high rates with young adults and adolescence right we see very very high rates during um kind of those those life stages right now if untreated these infections can lead to things like infertility um chronic pain complications increased HIV risk and in some cases even cancer, right? So for example, when we look at something like chlamydia, if that goes untreated, right, and it continues to exist within the body, that may damage reproductive or organs even if there are no other outward uh symptoms. Okay. So how are STI transmitted? Right? So they can spread in um a number of different ways. So yes, things like vaginal sex, um anal sex, oral sex, even things like skin-to-skin contact in some cases, um blood exposure, and even child birth.

[00:01:59]Right? So not all STI require intercourse. So vaginal um penetration for transmission or anal penetration or oral penetration. Not all of that is required for transmission. They can be sometimes again just through contact or through blood. Right? So for example HPV and herpes can spread with just skin-to-skin contact. And you look at something like HIV, it requires the exchange of certain bodily fluids. So through the blood maybe and maybe there's no sexual contact at all, but you're exposed to someone else's blood who who has HIV. Okay. Now that's how it's transmitted. What are the different types of a uh STI? All right, so we have like different groups. The first major group we're going to look at are the bacterial ones. All right, so some examples here are we're going to see things like chlamydia. Again, may not have symptoms in a lot of cases, but if they if you do, it can be experienced as general pain or maybe even abnormal unusual um discharge. All right? And again, if left untreated can lead to infertility, right? We're also going to have within the bacterial STI is gorrhea. All right, so this is often like painful urination, maybe even pelvic pain and again unusual discharge.

[00:03:21]And then syphilis, right? So syphilis can start as sores that might even be painless. And those sores can be on the genitals, the rectum, or even the mouth.

[00:03:30]But again, if left untreated, they progress through different stages and they get progressively worse and worse and worse. Right? So what you want to do here is treat them with antibiotics because it is a bacteria. Um and the earlier you can do that the better right and then we also have viral STI right so these are caused by a virus and so these typically are more things that we're going to manage rather than cure right so there are some vaccines available that maybe can prevent some of these things but it's typically going to be once you have this we're going to try and manage it for you rather than um outright curing it all right so some examples here are HIV we You can also see HPV. This is where sometimes you'll get things like genital warts. Um herpes again that's kind of associated with some sores and then the different forms of hepatitis which can impact liver production or function. Um so of those the ones that we the one that we kind of talk about the most is HIV and this is something where our immune system is being attacked right and because of that what we can see is that if HIV goes untreated this is where people will develop acquired immune deficiency syndrome AIDS okay fortunately modern treatments allow many people with HIV AIDS to live long healthy lives right so with that though prevention is still key and so there are number of preventive efforts or tools available. So, condoms, uh, routine testing, which we'll kind of touch on a little more. There's some preventative medication that you can take before exposure, and there's also, um, emergency medication available after possible exposure. Okay. All right. So, we have the the bacterias, we have the ones that are viruses, and then we have some that are parasites, right? This is another group of STI, right? So a parasite is an organism that lives on or in a host and it gets its food from or at the expense of the host. Okay. So three main parasites that we look at within STI. One of them I'm going to try to pronounce this as correctly as I can.

[00:05:40]Tricommonis.

[00:05:42]Tricommonasis.

[00:05:45]I do the best I can. This is something that's primarily going to impact women.

[00:05:49]U men if they have it are usually asymptomatic but again can still act as spreaders. Um another example here is pubic uh pubic lice. All right so often referred to as crabs. All right or even um another one is scabies. All right so scabies is where there are these little tiny uh mites that kind of burrow into the skin leading to intense itching and um a rash.

[00:06:13]um with these parasites, these are things that can be transmitted with just contact of infected area. All right, typically the genitals. All right, so any type of actual intercourse isn't necessary here. It can just be skin-to-skin contact. And the treatment here is usually with some type of um cream or um medication, oral medication, right? And then the last group we look at are uh funguses, right? So the primary thing here is a yeast infection, right? So this can lead to itching, rash, discomfort, um, and it's treated with oral medication as well. Now, what we want to look at with STI prevention is that that's going to be key. Rather than trying to treat something once it's there, we want to try and prevent it from happening uh, to begin with. So these are kind of going back to things that I mentioned before with safer sex practices as far as proper condom use or things like uh, dental dams, vaccinations. You want to have open communication with your partners, routine text uh testing, and again that matters because many of these can be asymptomatic. So you can unknowingly carry an STI with you for months or even years without symptoms and yet you're still kind of spreading it to others.

[00:07:25]Okay. Um one of the things that was mentioned right there is um communication. All right. So having communication about sexual health and your history may feel uncomfortable but they are part of healthy relationships.

[00:07:41]All right. So that kind of communication includes discussing your testing history, boundaries, condom use, consent and things related to what you would want to know from your partner. Okay.

[00:07:54]All right. Some questions for us to consider as we end this section is why do we think that there is a stigma associated with STI in so many cultures right why is there a stigma there um two how can misinformation right so misinformation not understand properly what STI are how can that affect prevention and treatment okay and then the third one to kind of tie in with that how can we correct or prevent that misinformation, right? How can we correct that so it doesn't have any kind of negative impact?