sexually transmited infections

Dermatology Dr. Hussein A. Al-Sultany
2016-2017


Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)

Definition:
STIs are a diverse group of infections caused by biologically dissimilar microbial agents, transmitted by sexual contact (usually illegal).

Terminology:
The term sexually transmitted infections (STIs) has been preferred than sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the recent years, because a person may be infected, and may potentially infect others, without showing signs of a disease.
While in the past, these illnesses have mostly been referred to as venereal diseases (VD) (from the Latin name Venus; the Roman goodness of love).

Epidemiology:
• STIs are most common in young, sexually active people.
• The STIs remain common infections with considerable underreporting.
• STIs are more common in male (symptoms and signs in men more obvious, social aspect, and men may have more sexual partners than women), and more serious in females (more serious complications).

Control and Prevention:
Good control of STIs is based on a number of important principles, include:
1. Early and accurate diagnosis.
2. Early and effective treatment.
3. Investigations to establish cure before resumption of sexual activity.
4. Counseling around safer sexual practice.
5. STIs screening for all risk groups (sex workers, men homosexual, injecting drug abusers).
6. STIs appear to travel together, so a patient presented with one STI should be screened carefully for others (co-prevalence).
7. Condoms: prevent some STIs as GC, and decrease the chance to get others as warts.
8. Vaccines: recently pre-exposure vaccines (Gardasil® and Cervarix®) are effective methods to prevent transmission of HPV.
9. Nonoxynol-9: it is a vaginal microbicide was hoped to decease STIs rates.

Prevention of STIs in Islam:
(1) Proper selection of future wife and husband. (2) Circumcision (decreased the risk of STIs, penile cancer, and cervical cancer in partner). (3) Inhibition of sexual excitement. (4) Bathing after coitus. (5) No intercourse during menses and purpereum (the congested mucosa is a good media for bacterial infection). (6) Prohibition of extra-marital relations. (7) Prohibition of anal sex. (8) Prohibition of homosexual relations.