Did You Have a Safe Spring Break?

ESRA Club

Did you have a safe spring break? Hopefully you did. You see, if you don’t pay close attention, you just might have had some unwelcome visitors coming back to school with you.

Let’s paint a scenario. So you’re on spring break, at the beach, and you’ve just been through a really tough set of midterms. There are a lot of beautiful people at the beach, and you end up spending the night with one, two, or three… of them. You come back to school and you realize you’re not feeling so good, or you might feel fine, but you start thinking about things. You go and get tested.  You may end up being just fine; then again you might not. Here are just a few of the most common STD’s in the U.S. today.

Suppose the doctor tells you that you’ve just contracted syphilis. Syphilis is considered the classic STD because it’s been around for hundreds of years. There are some famous people who have had syphilis including Vincent Van Gogh and Al Capon just to name a couple. A few symptoms of syphilis include a rash appearing on the palms of the hands and bottoms of the feet. Later, organ damage can occur and in severe cases, blindness, paralysis, dementia and death. Ever wonder why Van Gogh cut his ear off? Syphilis may very well have had a huge part in that, umm, decision!

Another “classic” STD is gonorrhea. This is another disease that has been around for a very long time. Symptoms can include severe pelvic/abdominal pain, as well as infertility and ectopic pregnancies, if left untreated.

Chlamydia is one the most common STD’s. Painful urination and abnormal odorous discharge from the genitals are a couple of the signs of chlamydia. Sterility as well as the possibility of passing the disease along to an infant in childbirth by an infected woman are some of the more severe symptoms.

Next, there is the Herpes Simplex Virus, more commonly known as Genital Herpes. The initial symptoms of HSV are usually flu-like. HSV also causes pain, itching, and red bumps or tiny white blisters. Other symptoms include burning, itching ulcers can also form when blisters rupture, ooze and bleed. Sores can be spread by touching or rubbing any area of the body. Reoccurrence of HSV is common. Severe problems associated with HSV include meningitis and babies being born with brain damage, blindness or death.

Human Papilloma Virus or HPV is a virus that can affect both men and women. HPV is a cause for cervical cancer. The virus can also develop in the back of the throat, on the tongue and tonsils, and can take years to detect. There is a vaccine for HPV, but no cure if you contract

If you’ve been reading all of this and you think you might just need to do something…? The short answer would be “do it!” Early detection is always better than regretting serious consequences later. Syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia are all bacterial. If they are detected soon enough, they are curable. The viruses are treatable, with medications to mitigate the symptoms. This is the time in life that is supposed to be full of health, not sickness and pain. Do yourself a favor and go get tested!

This article is brought to you by Club ESRA (Education for Sexual Risk Avoidance).

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