STDs Explained

STD stands for sexually transmitted disease. Some people use the term STI or sexually transmitted infection. For our purposes, either term works. This article will explain STDs, what they are, how they spread, how to prevent them, and how to treat them.

A disease happens when our bodies are not functioning properly. Most of you have probably had a cold, sinus infection, strep throat, or the flu at some point in your life. In each of those cases, there is something in your body causing the symptoms, usually either a bacteria or a virus. In order to feel better, your immune system has to kill whatever is infecting your body, or you have to help kill the infection by taking antibiotics.

STDs work the same way, but one thing makes them unique: instead of being passed through sneezing or shaking hands, they are passed from person to person through sexual contact. Each STD is a little different in how and why that happens, but they all can be passed through intercourse as well as oral and anal sex.

When it comes to the flu or a sinus infection, we usually know that we are sick because we feel bad. We have symptoms like chills, a fever, a stuffy nose, or a sore throat. STDs can be tricky. Most people with an STD don’t notice symptoms, at least not right away, and if they do, the symptoms are easily mistaken for something else. Sometimes, the infection is only on the inside of the body, so from the outside, you would never be able to tell. The only way to know for sure whether or not someone has been infected is for that person to get tested either at a clinic or by their doctor. Most doctors don’t run tests automatically, so that person would have to ask to be tested.

Once someone has been diagnosed with an STD, the options from there depend on which STD that person has. In the cases where the disease can be treated, both partners usually need to receive treatment in order to avoid passing the disease back and forth. Some diseases, however, cannot be treated. We’ll explain more specifically about each disease later.