Sexual Exposure Chart

For this calculation, it assumes that each time you have a new partner, that person has the same number of past partners as you do (when you have had 5 partners, that person also has had 5 previous partners). A little sex goes a long way!

Remember: When you have sex with someone, you are essentially having sex with everyone they have had sex with for the last ten years, and everyone they and their partners have had sex with for the last ten years. 

According to the National Center for Infectious Diseases...

*NO CURE

*Hepatitis B | *Hepatitis C | Chlamydia | Trichomonas | Gonorrhea
*Genital Herpes | *HIV/AIDS | *Human Papilloma Virus "Genital Warts" | Syphilis

PREVENTION

Symptoms:

• jaundice

• fatigue
• abdominal pain
• loss of appetite
• nausea, vomiting 
• joint pain

However, 30% of persons infected with HBV have no signs or symptoms and signs and symptoms are less common in children than adults.  Even with no symptoms, you can pass the disease onto your partner.   These infections can cause cancer and, even death.

AT RISK:

• Persons with multiple sex partners or diagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease
• Men who have sex with men
• Sex contacts of infected persons
• Injection drug users
• Household contacts of chronically infected persons
• Infants born to infected mothers
• Infants/children of immigrants from areas with high rates of HBV infection
• Health care and public safety workers
• Hemodialysis patients

TREATMENT OPTIONS:

There are some drugs available for treatment, however they can be very expensive, must be taken for lengthy periods of time and don't always work.  An HBV infected persons should be evaluated by their doctor for liver disease.  Adefovir dipivoxil, alpha interferon, and lamivudine are three drugs licensed for the treatment of persons with chronic HBV.   These drugs should not be used by pregnant women. Drinking alcohol can make your liver disease worse.

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Symptoms:

Although hepatitis C damages the liver, 80% of people with the disease do not have symptoms. In those who do, symptoms may not appear for 10-20 years, or even longer. Even then, the symptoms usually come and go and are mild and vague. Unfortunately, by the time symptoms appear, the damage may be very serious.

However, a small percentage of people have symptoms during the early acute phase of the infection. These symptoms typically develop 5-12 weeks after exposure to HCV. Some people describe the symptoms as being flulike. The symptoms may last a few weeks or months.

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Loss of appetite
• Fatigue
• Pain over the liver (on the right side of the abdomen, just under the rib cage)
• Jaundice - A condition in which the skin and the whites of the eyes turn yellow
• Dark-colored urine (may look like cola or tea)
• Stools become pale in color (grayish or clay colored)

AT RISK:

• Persons who ever injected illegal drugs, including those who injected once or a few times many years ago.
• Persons who received a blood transfusion or organ transplant before July 1992.
• Persons who received clotting factor concentrates before 1987.
• Persons who were ever on long-term dialysis.
• Children born to HCV-positive women.
• Healthcare, emergency medical, and public safety workers after needlesticks, sharps, or mucosal exposures to HCV-positive blood.
• Persons with evidence of chronic liver disease.

TREATMENT OPTIONS:  

There are some drugs available for treatment, however they can be very expensive, must be taken for lengthy periods of time and don't always work. 

Anti-Viral Drugs - Ribavirin (Copegus, Rebetol, Ribavirin inhalation, Virazole Aerosol)  Anti-virals are used for a wide variety of viral infections. They typically work to blocks the growth of the virus and slow the progression of the infection. Anti-virals usually do not cure the viral infection, but prevent it from getting worse.

Interferons  - Roferon-A; Pegasys; Peg-Intron are proteins that the body's immune system normally produces to help fight viruses, control the replication of cells, and regulate the immune system.  Interferons may cause many unpleasant side effects, including fever, chills, fatigue, headaches, muscle or joint aches, dizziness, or vomiting, which could cause many people to stop using the medication.

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Symptoms: About 75% or women and 25% of men have no visible symptoms.  Even if you have no symptoms, chlamydial infections can cause serious health problems.  If untreated, they can cause painful infections, permanent damage to reproductive organs resulting in chronic pain and infertility, sterility and tubal pregnancy which can result in maternal death.

Women:  Unusual vaginal discharge or burning when urinating; lower abdominal pain, pain during sex; bleeding between periods or low-grade fever.

Men: Discharge from the penis and/or burning when urinating; burning or itching around the opening of the penis; pain and swelling in the testicles, or low-grade fever.

AT RISK:

Men or women who have had unprotected vaginal, anal or oral sex with an infected person. 

TREATMENT OPTIONS: 

There are different treatment options available for this disease and your physician should be consulted as to which would be suit you.  The options are different for pregnant women, so be sure to inform your physician if you are pregnant.

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Symptoms:

Both men and women may be infected with trichomoniasis. Many people who are infected have no symptoms.   However, when left untreated, it can increase the risk for acquiring or transmitting HIVinfection, the virus that causes AIDS.   Heavy discharge can cause moderate skin irritation on the external genitals and inner thighs and is associated with an increased risk of inflammation of the fallopian tubes.

Symptoms in women include:

• Unusual and increased vaginal discharge (bubbly, pale green, or gray) with an unpleasant odor
• Itching, burning, or redness of the vulva and vagina

Symptoms in men include:

• Discharge from the penis
• Burning with urination

AT RISK:

• Engaging in unsafe, unprotected sex
• Having sex with more than one partner
• Having sex with someone who has multiple sex partners

TREATMENT OPTIONS:

Trichomoniasis can be easily treated and cured with antibiotics—usually a one- or seven-day course of a drug called metronidazole (Flagyl). This treatment can cause side effects such as mild nausea, vomiting, and metallic taste in the mouth.   It can also cause a bad reaction when mixed with alcohol; avoid drinking until 24 hours after you finish taking the medicine. Metronidazole should not be used during early pregnancy.

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Symptoms:

Symptoms in the male:

• a puss like discharge from the urethra with burning on urination when urinating
• frequent urination.
• anal infection include anal burning, itching, pain or discharge.
• Infection of the throat may result in soreness with puss like material visible on the tonsils, or back of the throat, but occurs very often without symptoms or lesions.

Symptoms in the female:

• increased vaginal discharge
• burning on urination
• frequent urination
• abnormal menstrual bleeding
• anal discomfort
• sore throat; Infection of the throat may result in soreness with puss like material visible on the tonsils, or back of the throat, but occurs very often without symptoms or lesions.

In approximately fifteen percent of females with infection of the inside of the mouth of the uterus, the infection extends into the Fallopian tubes causing what is commonly known as Pelvic Inflammatory Disease or PID.   Approximately nine percent of women who have experienced one episode of PID because of gonorrhea will be infertile due to permanent damage to the Fallopian tubes. Such pelvic infections may also result in abscesses around the tubes and ovaries and the infection may extend into the abdominal cavity.

Gonorrhea infection can spread to other unlikely parts of the body. For example, a person can get an eye infection after touching infected genitals and then the eyes. People who have had gonorrhea and received treatment may get infected again if they have sexual contact with a person infected with gonorrhea.

AT RISK:

• Anyone who has had sexual contact with: the penis, vagina, mouth, and anus of an infected person. Ejaculation does not have to occur for gonorrhea to be transmitted or acquired.
• Any sexually active person can be infected with gonorrhea. In the United States, the highest reported rates of infection are among sexually active teenagers, young adults, and African Americans.

TREATMENT OPTIONS:

Several antibiotics can successfully cure gonorrhea in adolescents and adults. However, drug-resistant strains of gonorrhea are increasing in many areas of the world, including the United States, and successful treatment of gonorrhea is becoming more difficult. Because many people with gonorrhea also have chlamydia, another sexually transmitted disease, antibiotics for both infections are usually given together. Persons with gonorrhea should be tested for other STDs.

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Symptoms:

• one or more painful blisters on or around the genitals or rectum
• flu-like symptoms, including fever and swollen glands.

AT RISK:

Men and women who have had sexual contact  (vaginal, anal or oral) with an infected person .

TREATMENT OPTIONS:

There is no treatment that can cure herpes, but antiviral medications can shorten and prevent outbreaks during the period of time the person takes the medication.

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AIDS - the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome - is a disease you get when HIV destroys your body’s immune system. Normally, your immune system helps you fight off illness. When your immune system fails you can become very sick and can die.

Symptoms:

You might have HIV and still feel perfectly healthy. The only way to know for sure if you are infected or not is to be tested.

AT RISK:

• any person, male or female, who has had unprotected sex- sex without a condom- with someone who has HIV.   Note: a condom cannot safely reduce your chances of contracting HIV by 100%. 
• any person, male or female, who has shared a needle and syringe to inject drugs or sharing drug equipment used to prepare drugs for injection with someone who has HIV.
• any person, male or female, who has had a blood transfusion or blood clotting factor that you got before 1985. (But today it is unlikely you could get infected that way because all blood in the United States has been tested for HIV since 1985.)
• any person, male or female, who has had sex with anyone participating the above listed behaviors.
   
• Babies born to women with HIV also can become infected during pregnancy, birth, or breast-feeding.

TREATMENT OPTIONS:

There are different treatment options available to you.  Please consult your physician or health care provider.

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Symptoms:   The incubation period is one month to many years.

• Palpable lump or irregularity of the skin surface (feels rough)
• Soft, moist, pink or red swellings, cauliflower-like (genital warts)
• Painful intercourse if the lesions are rubbed
• NO SYMPTOMS — The virus is often asymptomatic, especially women because the warts can be located within the vagina and on the cervix.

AT RISK:

• Usually passed from one partner to another during sexual intercourse.

• Intimate contact of the genitals, mouth, rectal area, or the sharing of sexual toys can transmit the organism from one individual to another.

• A woman's risk of HPV infection is increased if she has more than one sexual partner.

TREATMENT OPTIONS:

30 to 40 percent of warts will go away on their own without treatment, although most people choose to see a practitioner and have external genital warts removed.   In the case of an abnormal Pap, report recommendations may be to repeat the Pap smear at more frequent intervals.  Getting regular Pap smears is the best way to monitor HPV for women.

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Symptoms:

• PRIMARY:  The first symptom of syphilis is a sore called a chancre, which can appear within 10 days to three months after exposure but generally within three weeks.  It is usually found on the part of the body exposed to the bacteria, such as the penis, the vagina or the rectum. A chancre also can develop on the cervix, tongue, lips or other parts of the body. The chancre disappears within a few weeks regardless of whether treatment is obtained.
   
• SECONDARY: The signs of secondary syphilis may come and go over the next one to two years.  Are usually marked by a skin rash that appears up to 10 weeks after the chancre heals. The rash may cover the whole body or appear only in a few areas, such as on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet. The rash usually heals within several weeks or months.
  Other symptoms of secondary syphilis:
  mild fever, fatigue, headache, sore throat, patchy hair loss and swollen lymph glands throughout the body.
   
•  LATENT:  If primary and secondary stages go untreated, it can develop into Latent Syphilis at which point the disease is no longer contagious and no symptoms are present.
   
• TERTIARY:  The bacteria now damages the heart, eyes, brain, nervous system, bones, joints or almost any other part of the body.  This stage can last for years, or even decades.  Late or tertiary syphilis can result in mental illness, blindness, other neurological problems, heart disease and death

AT RISK:

• anyone having multiple sex partners
• having been infected with another STD in the past
• anyone having sexual contact with a person who has the disease can be infected from the sores of an infected person touching the mucous membranes of the genital area, the mouth or the anus of a sexual partner
• touching the broken skin on other parts of the body of an infected person.
• passed through the bacteria to the unborn child of an infected mother (child may be born with serious mental and physical problems as a result of this infection.)

TREATMENT OPTIONS:

Early stages of Syphilis can usually be treated with penicillin, administered by injection. Other antibiotics can be used for patients allergic to penicillin. It is important that people being treated for syphilis have periodic blood tests to ensure that they have been cured.  Persons with syphilis that has invaded the nervous system may need to be retested for up to two years after treatment. In all stages of syphilis, proper treatment will cure the disease but, in late or tertiary syphilis, damage already done to body organs cannot be reversed.

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PREVENTION

To prevent sexually transmitted diseases:

• If you are single, abstain from sexual activity

• If you get married, be faithful

• If you haven't had sex (oral, vaginal or anal), you are not at risk for an STD

• If you've already had sex, get checked out!

• Be aware of what you are exposing yourself to when you choose to have sexual relations with another person.

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