STD’s Are Still Around – A Guide On How to Handle – Medical News

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By Eugene H. Eisman, MD FACP

It Isn’t 1950 Anymore…

When 1950 turned the corner, life was great. Women had their birth control pills, and now had enough control over reproduction as to really enjoy life. They celebrated by demanding sex. No longer did they have to fight with their boyfriend who insisted that wearing a condom was like having sex with your boots on.

Well, that decade is over. It was bad enough getting any venereal disease, but HIV swept over us, and now our lives were really at stake. The topic today will be VD. How do you have sex, and still remain alive? Sorry, guys, but the only protection we get from VD is using that damn condom again. I will review the “common” venereal diseases. There are venereal diseases I saw in Vietnam that I never saw in the good old USA, but I’m sure they appear here even though they are rare.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus is the most serious when it comes to mortality. When I was a medical student, back in the Cretaceous Period, I saw several people dying of the disease. We knew it was more common in homosexuals, but we did not know it was sexually transmitted. Initially, there was no treatment, and many people died from this disease. Today, we have medications that keep people alive. Skilled care is the key, as the treatment is constantly changing and improving. I have only a few patients with this disease. Seeing specialists, who see many with HIV, is the key to survival. All of my patients that are HIV positive, are referred on to an infectious disease specialist.

Syphilis is another one with significant mortality. It is a bacteria that this coiled like a spring. It is called a spirochete. It begins with a painless ulcer (primary syphilis). The ulcer is on the penis of the male, or on the genitalia of a female. If it’s in the vagina, this sign may be missed. In a fairly short time it heals, and is followed by a rash (secondary syphilis). The rash disappears even if there is no treatment. And now you have years of feeling great. But the bacteria are still active. They slowly destroy the brain causing dementia, destroying blood vessels, but you may remain without symptoms for twenty years. We still use long acting penicillin for treatment. The penicillin does not work once you get tertiary symptoms We have a history of medicine that we are not proud of. Many years ago, in one of the southern states, we took a group of African Americans who had a positive test for syphilis, and we did not treat them. The test was called a VDRL. The findings were that 1/3 had a VDRL that became negative, 1/3 remained positive, but never experienced the signs of tertiary syphilis, but the last 1/3 got the horrible tertiary form of syphilis. The doctors that ran this study should be hung by their gonads.

The next venereal disease I would like to cover is one that is present in more than 30% of Americans. It usually does not kill, but it can occasionally make life miserable. Herpes 2. painful ulcers appear on genitalia. I’m sure that my readers are cautious enough to ask their partner if they have a VD. Women are likely to get these lesions inside their vagina, and do not recognize that they have Herpes. What is more disturbing, is that some people who carry Herpes never get symptoms. They feel fine, but spread the disease all over.

Herpes simplex I is the virus that causes cold sores around the mouth. It is spread by kissing, and usually is not a serious problem. Early in my practice, we did not have good meds, and I had patients who could not eat during an attack, and had to be supported with IV in the hospital.

Finally, two other venereal diseases are common in this country. Both Chlamydia and Gonorrhea have the same symptom; terrible burning when passing urine. Both diseases have the following complications: The infection spreads to the fallopian tubes (salpingitis) which can cause fatality, and often sterility.

This does not exhaust the topic and there are many others such viral hepatitis, chancroid, but this is enough.

Again, I would like to encourage my readers to send any questions by using the form box below to me.

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