Keeping safe does not only mean not getting pregnant. The way you choose to live your life can affect your health and your partner’s health. Keeping safe can at best save your life and prevent you from getting infections, which in some instances can create irreversible damage. Keeping safe will secure a better chance of you getting pregnant when you want to.
Check out the information below on sexually transmitted infections, if you feel you may have an STI then you need to visit a Genito-Urinary Medicine (GUM) clinic to get checked out. These are clinics that specialise in the treatment of STIs. You will usually need to make an appointment, but there are some walk in clinics.
Remember, using a condom is the best way to protect yourself and your partner from sexually transmitted infections. For how to get FREE condoms, go to the C Card section of this website.
Use the links below to find out about a specific STI.
Chlamydia
Genital herpes
Genital warts
Syphilis
Gonorrhoea
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis C
Trichomonas Vaginalis
Thrush
Bacterial Vaginosis
Pubic Lice
You’ve heard of it because….it’s the superstar STI of the moment. Everyone’s talking about it because it is the most common STI in the UK. In Kent one in eight young people between the ages of 15-25 are thought to have it.
How you get it: You can get it through unprotected anal, oral and vaginal sex, or (very rarely) through rubbing your eyes after touching the genital area. A baby can get it from its mother during birth.
Clues you may have it: You may get a discharge from your penis or vagina. Also it may hurt or burn during peeing or sex. Most men and women don’t have any symptoms, or they get some symptoms and then they stop. This does not mean the STI has gone away – it’s just moved up…
What happens if I just leave it? In women it can cause damage to the reproductive system including the cervix and the fallopian tubes. This can cause considerable pain and discomfort and is known as Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID). When the tubes are blocked the egg released from the ovary can't travel down the tube to the womb where fertilization with a sperm should happen. This means fertilization is more difficult i.e. causing fertility problems. Occasionally the sperm fertilises the egg in the tube and the embryo develops in the tube causing an ectopic pregnancy. This is serious as the tube will burst as the embryo grows. This is very dangerous for women.
In men it can cause damage to the epididymis (tubes which the sperm travel through), painful swelling of the testicles and if left, causes an infection, which can lead to sterility. Chlamydia can also cause eye infections and more rarely, arthritic symptoms. A baby who contracts Chlamydia during birth can develop an eye infection or pneumonia.
What should you do? GET TESTED. Testing for Chlamydia is widely available in Kent especially for the under 25’s! You can get tested at family planning clinics, STI clinics, some GP surgeries, in colleges and universities, at youth centres, some pharmacies and by school nurses. Otherwise you can pick up a postcard and send off for your very own test. Postcards are available from youth organisations, music centres and clubs, shops and offices and so on. Testing can be done by taking a swab from men and women or by use of a urine sample. Chlamydia is very easily treated with antibiotics. The damage it causes to your reproductive organs is more difficult and often impossible to repair. You can’t afford to wait and see.
The best way of dealing with any sexually transmitted infection is to not get it in the first place. Practise safe sex. Use a condom for vaginal sex, a condom and lubricant for anal sex and a flavoured condom or dental dam for oral sex.
You’ve heard of it because the virus causing it is linked to mouth herpes; otherwise known as cold sores. They are either called type one (mouth) or type two (genital) herpes. Interestingly you can get cold sores on the genitals and genital herpes on the mouth. Herpes is a very common virus. Approximately 1/5 of us has it in our bodies.
How you get it: You can get it through unprotected anal, oral or vaginal sex and by sharing sex toys. 'Close intimate contact'; rubbing the sex organs together or even skin contact with herpes sore can be enough to pass the virus on. It is very common to get herpes on the genitals after oral sex with someone who has a cold sore. A baby can get it from its mother during birth. Unfortunately if you have herpes you can pass it on to your sexual partner even if you have never had any symptoms or if the symptoms have gone away.
Clues you may have it: Blisters will appear in and outside the vagina, on the penis or around the bottom. Because it is a virus you may also feel generally unwell at the same time with flu-like symptoms or headaches.
What happens if I just leave it? Once you have the genital herpes virus you can’t get rid of it. However, this is like any other virus. Your body has to get over the virus, like recovering from chicken pox or the flu. You keep viruses in your body, but your immune system copes with them. Eventually you will not get the symptoms back. If you have herpes doctors/nurses treat the symptoms not the virus. So you would be advised to take an over the counter pain remedy and ease the pain of the sores through cool baths and ice packs. The worst sores usually occur the very first time you have herpes. These will heal after about 10 days. It is important to seek help as antiviral tablets can be given, which help your body fight the effects of the virus.
Herpes can cause problems in pregnancy. It is rare, but it would be important to speak to a doctor or midwife if you have had herpes. Very occasionally caesareans are advised; but this would only be necessary in a minority of cases.
What should you do? GET TESTED – A trained practitioner should be able to identify genital herpes from the appearance of sores. They will take a swab of one of the sores to be sure. You can’t be tested for genital herpes unless you actually have sores to test.
The best way of dealing with any sexually transmitted infection is to not get it in the first place. Practise safe sex. Use a condom for vaginal sex, a condom and lubricant for anal sex and a flavoured condom or dental dam for oral sex. This will reduce your chances of acquiring herpes.
You’ve heard of this because: this is the most common viral STI. Like herpes once you have the virus it stays in your body. However, your body will develop immunity to it and then you will no longer develop warts.
You can pass on the wart virus even if you haven't had any signs of them, or if you had them in the past.
How you get it: You can get it through unprotected anal, or vaginal and occasionally oral sex, and by sharing sex toys. 'Close intimate contact'; rubbing the sex organs together can be enough to pass the virus on. Just because you can’t see any warts on your sexual partner doesn't mean they aren’t carrying the virus and they can still infect you.
Clues you may have it: Warts are small lumps, which may be flesh coloured or white. You may get just one or a whole clump. They can appear outside or inside the vagina, the penis, scrotum or bottom. They are very rarely around the mouth (from oral contact).
What happens if I just leave it? Warts should be treated by a medical practitioner or they may continue to grow, and grow and grow. Usually self treatment cream is given to treat warts, although this cannot be used in pregnancy. Warts can also be treated by a form of freezing.
What should you do? GET TESTED. Testing can be done at an STI clinic where a practitioner will examine you externally and internally. Sometimes they take a sample of the lump under local anaesthetic to be sure. Once you have genital warts you cannot get rid of the virus. You may only ever have one outbreak of the warts but the virus remains and you can pass it on to other people.
The best way of dealing with any sexually transmitted infection is to not get it in the first place. Practise safe sex. Use a condom for vaginal sex, a condom and lubricant for anal sex and a flavoured condom or dental dam for oral sex.
You’ve heard of this because: King Henry VIII (the one with all the wives) apparently had this disease and it is supposed to have eventually killed him. Syphilis is relatively rare, but there have been outbreaks in London, Brighton and North East England
How you get it: You can get it through unprotected anal, vaginal, and occasionally, oral sex. 'Close intimate contact'; rubbing the sex organs together can be enough to pass on infection. Skin contact with Syphilis sores can also spread the infection. Syphilis can be passed from mother to unborn baby.
Clues you may have it: Large, often painless sores appear on and in vagina, penis or bottom. These will heal but by this time the infection will spread around the body. Later you may get a rash, particularly on hands and feet, lose some hair, find white patches in your mouth and feel like you have the flu.
What happens if I just leave it? Untreated Syphilis will eventually move on to damage your internal organs, including the brain, and can lead to death. If you are pregnant and have Syphilis you may suffer a miscarriage or stillbirth.
What you should do: GET TESTED. Testing can be done at an STI clinic where a practitioner will examine you externally and internally. They will also take a blood and urine sample for further testing. Syphilis is treated with antibiotics either given by injection or a course of tablets.
The best way of dealing with any sexually transmitted infection is to not get it in the first place. Practise safe sex. Use a condom for vaginal sex, a condom and lubricant for anal sex and a flavoured condom or dental dam for oral sex.
You’ve heard of this because: the rates of infection in the UK have shot up in the last few years.
How you get it: You can get it through unprotected anal, vaginal and oral sex. You can also get it by sharing sex toys and by rubbing your eyes after touching the genital area. A baby can get it from its mother during birth.
Clues you may have it: You may get a discharge from your penis or vagina, itching inside the anus, or it may hurt or burn during peeing and sex. The majority of men and most women don’t have any symptoms, or they get some symptoms and then they stop. This does not mean the STI has gone away – it’s just moved up.
What happens if I just leave it? If you leave Gonorrhoea untreated it moves up into your reproductive system. In women it causes Pelvic Inflammatory Disease; damage to the fallopian tubes. When the tubes are blocked the egg released from the ovary cannot travel down the tube to the womb where fertilization with a sperm should happen. This means fertilization is more difficult i.e. causing fertility problems. Occasionally the sperm fertilizes the egg in the tube and the embryo develops in the tube causing an ectopic pregnancy. This is serious as the tube will burst as the embryo grows. This is very dangerous for women.
In men it can cause damage to the epididymis (tubes which the sperm travel through), painful swelling of the testicles and if left causes an infection, which can make you sterile.
What you should do: GET TESTED. Testing can be done at an STI clinic where a practitioner will examine you and take a swab and a sample of urine. Gonorrhoea can be treated with antibiotics.
The best way of dealing with any sexually transmitted infection is to not get it in the first place. Practise safe sex. Use a condom for vaginal sex, a condom and lubricant for anal sex and a flavoured condom or dental dam for oral sex.
You’ve heard of this because: Well you may not have heard of Hepatitis B (Hep B), but you have probably heard of Hepatitis. Hepatitis means simply inflammation of the liver. This inflammation can be caused by alcohol, drugs (including stuff like too many paracetamol as well as illegal drugs), bacterial infection and viruses. If the liver is damaged to the point where it cannot recover you may have to have a liver transplant. Hepatitis B is a viral infection.
How you get it: You can get it through unprotected anal, vaginal and oral sex and by sharing sex toys. A baby can get it from its mother during birth and from breast milk. You can also get it from blood to blood contact; like sharing needles for drugs, having a tattoo or even having a piercing.
Clues you may have it: You may start feeling or being sick, feeling run down and like you are going to get flu. You may be achy, not feel like eating or doing anything. You may lose weight and not be able to concentrate. Often in the early stages of Hep B there are no symptoms at all and you only begin to feel ill when serious damage to your liver has already happened. Occasionally your skin goes yellow!
What happens if I just leave it? About 90% of people who get Hep B get over it by themselves. However, this can take a long time and you feel pretty bad whilst you are recovering. The remaining 10% have to learn to manage the disease. Of those 10% a proportion will go on to develop serious liver disease and even liver cancer. The point is you can’t tell if you will be part of the lucky 90% or the unfortunate 10%. Hep B damages the liver over time and often you don’t get any symptoms until the damage has been done. You may be offered treatment, which can slow down or even cure the virus. There are other things you can do to help your liver cope with the infection. Avoid alcohol or drugs.
If you leave it, the virus will continue to do more damage and you may infect someone else.
What you should do: GET TESTED. Testing can be done at an STI clinic where a practitioner will take a blood test. If you are found to have Hepatitis you made need to have further tests to see how badly your liver is damaged. You may have to have a biopsy. A small sample will be taken under local anaesthetic by inserting a large needle into your liver. This isn’t a particularly comfortable experience but is necessary to find out how ill you may be.
A blood test may also show that you have had Hepatitis B and got over it; in which case you are immune for life. The practitioner at the clinic may also ask you if you feel you are in a high risk group (Gay/Bisexual men) of getting Hep B and vaccination can be offered to ensure you never get it. This is a course of three injections over 3 weeks at the end of which a blood test will be taken to make sure the vaccination has worked.
The best way of dealing with any sexually transmitted infection is to not get it in the first place. Practise safe sex. Use a condom for vaginal sex, a condom and lubricant for anal sex and a flavoured condom or dental dam for oral sex.
You’ve heard of this because: it is a massive problem for needle drug misusers. In the UK one in two drug misusers, who use needles, have Hepatitis C. Hepatitis means simply inflammation of the liver. This inflammation can be caused by alcohol, drugs (including stuff like too many paracetamol as well as illegal drugs), bacterial infection and viruses. If the liver is damaged to the point where it cannot recover you may have to have a liver transplant. Hepatitis C (Hep C/HCV) is a viral infection.
How you get it: Hepatitis C is passed on through blood to blood contact. For example, if you share needles when using drugs or have a tattoo or piercings. Babies can contract the disease from their mother during pregnancy or birth. You can get it through unprotected anal, vaginal and occasionally oral sex. Contracting Hepatitis C through sexual contact is unusual but it does happen, particularly if you come into contact with blood. So, if you had unprotected sex that caused bleeding, or if you had sex during a period.
Clues you may have it: You may start feeling or being sick, feeling run down and like you are going to get flu. You may be achy, not feel like eating or doing anything. You may lose weight and not be able to concentrate. Often in the early stages of Hep C there are no symptoms at all and you only begin to feel ill when serious damage to your liver has already happened.
What happens if I just leave it? While about 20% of people who get Hep C get over it by themselves, the other 80% have to learn to manage the disease. Hep C damages the liver over time and often you don’t even get symptoms until the damage has been done. You may be offered treatment, which can slow down or even cure the virus. Today new treatments mean over half those taking it get over the virus. There are other things you can do to help your liver cope with the infection, e.g. avoid alcohol or drugs. But you can only do these things or get treatment if you know you’re infected in the first place. If you leave it the virus will continue to do more damage and you may infect someone else.
What you should do: GET TESTED. Testing can be done at an STI clinic where a practitioner will take a blood test. If you are found to have Hepatitis you made need to have further tests to see how badly your liver is damaged. You may have to have a biopsy, which is taken under local anaesthetic by inserting a large needle into your liver. This isn’t a particularly comfortable experience but is necessary to find out how ill you may be. The body can clear Hep C by itself over time (but only about 20% of those infected do so) but you can get it again. There’s no vaccine and no guaranteed cure.
The best way of dealing with any sexually transmitted infection is to not get it in the first place. Practise safe sex. Use a condom for vaginal sex, a condom and lubricant for anal sex and a flavoured condom or dental dam for oral sex.
You’ve heard of this because: - well actually you probably haven’t heard of it.
How you get it:
You can get it by having vaginal sex or possibly through sharing sex toys. Women can pass it on to their babies during birth.
Clues you may have it: You may get a discharge from your penis or vagina and it may hurt or burn during peeing and sex. Often there aren’t any symptoms.
What happens if I just leave it? TV won’t go away by itself. The symptoms (if you get any) are unpleasant and the longer you leave it the more likely it is you will infect someone else. TV during pregnancy can cause premature birth.
What you should do: GET TESTED. Testing can be done at an STI clinic where a practitioner will examine you externally and internally, take a swab and a urine sample. Treatment is just a course of antibiotics.
The best way of dealing with any sexually transmitted infection is to not get it in the first place. Practise safe sex. Use a condom for vaginal sex, a condom and lubricant for anal sex and a flavoured condom or dental dam for oral sex.
You’ve heard of this because: You may have experienced it already. This is not necessarily because you have caught it during sex. Other things can cause thrush; in the vaginal area as well as the mouth. The yeast that causes Thrush lives in and on the body already. It just goes into production overdrive under certain circumstances.
How you get it: The yeast may go into overproduction if you are taking antibiotics, have been poorly, have used stuff like bath oil or shower gel that has caused irritation, or if you have worn something a bit too tight or non cotton underwear. It can also be triggered if you have diabetes.
It can be passed on through vaginal, anal and oral sex, by using sex toys or if you have been touching the vaginal area. Sometimes the act of sex itself can cause Thrush to be triggered.
Clues you may have it: Your vagina/anus/mouth/penis will be very itchy and uncomfortable. You may get swelling, red skin and a thick discharge, which may smell. It may hurt when you pee or during sex.
What happens if I just leave it? You will be uncomfortable, but it may clear itself in time.
What you should do: GET TESTED. You can go along to your own doctor or testing can be done at an STI clinic where a practitioner will examine you externally and internally and take a swab. Thrush is a very common infection and is easily treated with creams, pessaries or tablets. Some of these creams can cause a condom to split so you will need to abstain from sex whilst you are having treatment. These can be obtained from a pharmacy as well as from the doctor or clinic. We would suggest you get it checked out by a practitioner as the symptoms of Thrush can also be symptoms of other sexually transmitted diseases. Also if Thrush returns you should see a practitioner as recurring Thrush can be a symptom of other illness such as diabetes.
The best way of dealing with any sexually transmitted infection is to not get it in the first place. Practise safe sex. Use a condom for vaginal sex, a condom and lubricant for anal sex and a flavoured condom or dental dam for oral sex.
You’ve heard of this because: well you probably haven’t but you probably will have this at some point in your lifetime. If you have a vagina that is; the clue is in the title!
How you get it: BV is a bacterial infection, which shows up when the acid/alkaline balance in the vagina is changed. This can be triggered by using stuff like bath oil, shower gel or vaginal deodorants, which may cause irritation. Smoking can also trigger it. Periods causing hormonal changes are also thought to be a factor and most specifically having sex where semen is released into the vagina (so vaginal sex without a condom) can be an issue. BV isn’t sexually transmitted in that men cannot get it and so cannot pass it on – it’s likely to be the act of sex itself that causes the problem.
Clues you may have it: Most of the time there are no symptoms but if you get any it will be a discharge, which will smelly fishy. This will be at its worst after sex.
What happens if I just leave it: Because BV isn’t strictly speaking sexually transmitted you can’t infect your partner. Also it should go away on its own in time and some women find if they take antibiotics for BV it can result in a case of Thrush! BV doesn’t cause any damage to the reproductive system. The only issue is if you are pregnant and have BV. There have been links to miscarriages and premature births, so you would need to get treatment.
What you should do: GET TESTED. You can go along to your own doctor or testing can be done at an STI clinic where a practitioner will take a swab and a urine sample. You may be given antibiotics to clear the infection in tablet, pessary or cream form. Some of these creams can cause a condom to split so you will need to abstain from sex whilst you are having treatment. Some antibiotics can lessen the effectiveness of the contraceptive pill or make you ill if you drink alcohol whilst taking them.
The best way of dealing with any sexually transmitted infection is to not get it in the first place. Practise safe sex. Use a condom for vaginal sex, a condom and lubricant for anal sex and a flavoured condom or dental dam for oral sex.
You’ve heard of this because: they are little bugs living in your genital area. Pubic lice are shaped like tiny crabs (hence the popular name) and are found in the pubic hair of men and women.
How you get them: They can be passed on during vaginal sex or through close contact between pubic areas. Skin to skin contact in that area is enough. They only live in the pubic area.
Clues you may have them: You may see them crawling in the pubic hair (but they are more difficult to spot than you might think), you may see their eggs in your underwear and you may be very itchy or inflamed in the pubic area. Some people don’t have or notice the symptoms.
What happens if I just leave it: They won’t go away on their own. Your pubic area will continue to itch and you will feel very uncomfortable. You are of course infectious to sexual partners.
What you should do: Shaving off your pubic hair won’t get rid of them. They lay their eggs below the skin so they will keep coming back without treatment. So GET TESTED. Testing can be done at an STI clinic where a practitioner will examine you externally with a magnifying glass (yes really!). Treatment comes in the form of a cream to be applied to the infected area. Also any clothes, sheets or towels you have should be washed on a high heat setting to ensure you have got rid of any stray lice. Treatment is available from medical practitioners or simply over the counter at pharmacies.
