Sexually transmitted infection myths

Myth # 1 – Infection lies in wait for us everywhere

They say that mycoplasmas and ureaplasmas float in the pool, hordes of syphilis pathogens sit on handrails in vehicles, and a family member who is sick with chlamydia will certainly infect everyone else, including an elderly grandmother and an infant.

In fact: the likelihood of catching an infection is very small. The vast majority of pathogens of various infections are poorly adapted to life in the air or in chlorinated pool water. Their concentration outside the body of a sick person is so small that even if a harmful bacteria gets to you, it cannot cause an outbreak of infection in your body.

What to do: You do not need to visit the pool and beach on menstruation days or during illness, when the body is especially vulnerable. You cannot use other people’s towels and linen. It is also worth remembering that oral sex can also become infected.

Myth number 2: it is completely impossible to recover

It is said that the most common sexually transmitted diseases cannot be completely eliminated.

In fact: yes and no. There are diseases that can be completely and completely cured. For example, syphilis and gonorrhea. There are diseases whose pathogens are part of our own microflora. Mycoplasma, ureaplasma, gardnerella – they all belong to latent, conditionally pathogenic infections and become dangerous only if they multiply too violently. And also there are a number of viruses (herpes, human papilloma, cytomegalovirus), picking up which, you will not necessarily get sick. It is completely impossible to get rid of them, but modern medicine allows us to introduce them into a “sleeping” state in which they do not pose a threat to us.

What to do: in the first six months of a close relationship with a new man, it is necessary to use a condom, because the partner does not take tests every day, and the “sleeping” infection may wake up.

Dangerous Liaisons: When To Start Worrying?

If you are concerned about the problem of your own safety after a stormy night, after a while you need to be tested for the most common diseases.

• For most infections, the incubation period (from the moment of infection to the development of the disease) is 7 to 14 days. Before this time, it is useless to take tests.

• For the hepatitis virus and HIV, the incubation period is up to six months.

• For syphilis, it takes 3 to 6 weeks between infection and the first symptoms.

• If you have any suspicious discharge, see your doctor immediately.

Myth # 3: Tests are never 100% accurate

They saythat no analysis can give an accurate answer to the question of whether a disease is present in the body or not.

Actually: this is wrong. With the help of PCR (polymerase chain reaction), it is possible to track the presence of the bacterial genome in the body. For opportunistic pathogens, a positive response is the norm. In order to determine if they have multiplied too much, sowing is carried out on special media, and already based on its results, the doctor draws a conclusion about your state of health. For some infections, it is quite enough to take a scraping from the mucous membrane of the neck. uterus and examine it under a microscope.

What to do: in any city in Russia there are several large laboratories – commercial and state clinics bring tests there. You can find out which laboratory your clinic cooperates with and contact directly there. If there is no confidence in the doctor or clinic, take tests again in several laboratories “with a name” and compare the results.

Myth # 4: Treatment is very expensive

They say, that the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases is a very long, complex and expensive process.

Actually: Tests are expensive. Getting rid of the disease, in comparison with their cost, costs a penny and does not take much time. If the infection is not chronic, then gonorrhea is treated with one injection, and it will take from 1 day to 1 week to fight chlamydia, myco- and ureaplasma, as well as Trichomonas.

What to do: a single antibiotic is usually sufficient to get rid of a bacterial infection. When treating STDs, there is no need for additional physiotherapy (laser, magnetotherapy and others). At the same time, various methods of alternative medicine are absolutely useless. A bacterial infection can only be treated with antibiotics – no herbs, dietary supplements, homeopathic medicines and folk remedies will help get rid of the infection.

Myth # 5: Most doctors are scammers

They saythat doctors have become so self-serving that they do not cure, but only try to rip more money from patients. To do this, they find more and more new problems, make us take a lot of tests or get rid of non-existent diseases.

Actually: alas, some doctors do. But often they are helped in this by the patients themselves, who believe that only extensive and expensive treatment can be effective.

What to do

• No need to call a doctor at home from a clinic you have never been to. How can you trust your life and health to people you don’t know anything about?

• If you have applied to a medical institution for the first time, immediately look at the license. They hang it out in the lobby. It must be an original or a certified copy (all other options are fake). Please note: is it overdue? Does the treatment according to your profile allow?

• Compare the hospital name on the license and on the advertisement. Sometimes the advertisements indicate the promoted world brands, but in fact the clinic has nothing to do with them.

• Make sure you have an outpatient (or inpatient) medical record for you, where all your details are legible and accurate. For example, if the surname is written with an error, then in court it will then be impossible to prove that it was you who were treated incorrectly.

• Read the contract carefully for commitments. Sometimes clinics disclaim any responsibility for mistakes, so there is nothing to ask for in court.

• The doctor must legibly write his last name on the card so that he can then be identified.

• The medical reports describe in detail the patient’s condition at the time of admission to the hospital, how and with what drugs he was treated, how the state of health changed. Exhaustive recommendations are given, and below – the seal and signature of the chief physician or the person replacing him (sometimes the director of the clinic) is required.

• If the clinic has raised doubts in your mind, call the Roszdravnadzor hotline: 8 (495) 698-45-38.