Healthy Sexual Relationship
A healthy and satisfactory sexual relationship is the bedrock
of a successful married life. To ensure this one has to practise
safe sex and maintain fidelity. Having multiple partners and
practising unsafe sex can make one’s life miserable.
Such unsafe sexual relations and promiscuity can cause several
Sexually Transmitted Infections, which in turn can lead to
serious consequences.
Common STI’s & their symptoms
Sexually transmitted infections are those infections that
are contracted and transmitted through sexual intercourse.
The common symptoms of STI’s are:
Ulcers on the external genitalia.
Purulent discharge through the urethra along with pain
and burning sensation on passing urine.
Unusual and excessive discharge from the vagina.
Enlarged lymph nodes in the groin area.
Lower abdominal pain and pain during intercourse (in females).
Painful swelling of the scrotum (in males).
Precautions
Seek treatment at the early stage of illness.
Avoid self-treatment and going to quacks.
Seek treatment from trained experts whose services are
available at Government Medical Colleges and District Hospitals.
Take complete course of treatment as advised by the doctor
even if the symptoms disappear. Many STI’s are asymptomatic.
Ensure that your partner is also treated.
Use condoms during and after treatment.
Pulari centres are STI treatment clinics. These are the service
centres run by Kerala State AIDS Control Society, where free,
prompt and complete treatment for STI’s is given. At these
STI clinics, trained doctors make accurate diagnosis and provide
complete and curative treatment. Importance of completing the
full course of treatment is emphasized. STI clinics are functioning
at all the five Govt. Medical Colleges and thirteen District
Hospitals.
Link between STI’s & HIV
A person who has an STI (urethral discharge or genital ulcer)
runs as much as four times the risk of contracting HIV from
a sexual partner, than a person who is not infected with STI.
An ulcerative STI poses a significantly greater risk of HIV
transmission; because the HIV virus can be enter the body
more easily through the genital ulcer.
HIV virus is present in large numbers in the semen and vaginal
fluids of infected persons. Unsafe sexual contact with an
infected person enables easy entry of HIV virus especially
in the presence of ulcerative lesions on the genitalia.
Therefore, because of the strong link between HIV and STI,
it is very important to treat all STI’s completely and
curatively as early as possible.
Correct and consistent use of condoms can protect against
HIV and STI, by preventing contact with infected semen and
vaginal fluids.
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