There are plenty of ways, in our society, that one can get an STD, a sexually transmitted disease. Numerous partners, a kiss from a stranger in a late night scenario, a pick-up of a complete stranger who caught your fancy?
IIt's possible to have an STD and not know it. Sometimes symptoms are mild. Sometimes they can be mistaken for other conditions, like when women have discharge from a yeast infection. Sometimes STDs don't have symptoms at all. Yet they can cause health problems, according to a article in WebMD.
"The same way we can have germs on our skin, in our mouths, or in our digestive tracts and not know it, we can have germs on or inside our genitals," says Jeffrey D. Klausner, MD. to WebMD.
STDs are common, according to the WebMD story. There are about 20 million new cases of STDs in the U.S. each year. More than half of adults will have one in their lifetime. If you haven't been tested, you could pass an STD on to someone else. Even though you don't have symptoms, it can be dangerous to your health and the health of your partner.
Some STDs, including chlamydia and gonorrhea, can cause infertility. This is especially true for women. These diseases can cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), an infection of the uterus and other reproductive organs. PID can raise a woman's risk for ectopic pregnancy, a pregnancy outside the womb, says WebMD.
Other STDs, such as syphilis and HIV, can be deadly. Left untreated for years, syphilis can also seriously damage your brain, nervous system, and heart.
Certain strains of HPV can cause cervical cancer in women, cancer of the penis in men, and cancer of the anus in both men and women.