Chlamydia is considered the most common cause of sterility.  Advanced stage may require removal of uterus, tubes, and ovaries. It often has no symptoms. 

Men may have discharge from penis and burning sensation during urination.

Women may have vaginal discharge and/or pain.

Gonorrhea is a common cause of pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility in women.  It can cause sterility in men due to scarring. 

Men may have discharge from penis and burning sensation during urination.

Women may mistake symptoms for a bladder or vaginal infection.  They may have pelvic pain, painful urination, discharge, or bleeding between periods. 

PID (Pelvic Inflammatory Disease) affects only women and can cause ectopic pregnancy, sterility, cancer, and loss of life.

Women have same symptoms as Chlamydia and Gonorrhea    Other symptoms are minor and mistaken for menstrual cramps.

Syphillis can cause damage to internal organs, including the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver, bones, and joints if it goes untreated.  Birth defects or death of newborns if mother infected.

Men initially have swollen non-painful ulcers on genitalia, and eventually changes of skin, fever, enlarged lymph nodes.

Women initially have not systems and eventually the symptoms appear the same as men. 

Trichomoniasis is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases.  Some symptoms include:

Men often have no symptoms but some have discharge and burning with urination

Women may have vaginal discharge with a strong odor, discomfort during intercourse and urination, and irritation and itching of the female genital area..

Viral STDs These can be treated with antiviral medication to reduce symptoms but cannot be cured.

Genital herpes is contagious for life, painful, and could be fatal for the unborn.

Both sexes have reoccurring sores, flu- like symptoms, fever, and swollen glands.

HPV – Human papillomavirus can clear on its own but some types may lead to cancer of the cervix, vulva, vagina, anus or penis.  4,000 women die each year from cancer.

Men have visible genital warts

Women often have no signs but some have burning, itching, and pain.

Hepatitis B is a serious disease that attacks the liver.  It can cause chronic liver disease, cancer, cirrhosis, and death. 

Both sexes often have no symptoms. Some have jaundice, extreme fatigue, dark urine, gray stool, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fever, stomach, or joint pain

Hepatitis C is a serious disease that attacks the liver.  It can cause a lifelong infection, cancer, and death. 

Both sexes have jaundice, extreme fatigue, dark urine, abdominal pain, loss of appetite or nausea

HIV destroys a certain kind of blood cell (CD4+ T cells), which is crucial to the normal function of the human immune system.  HIV always results in AIDS, and AIDS always leads to death. 

Both sexes have rapid weight loss, dry cough, recurring fever or profuse night sweats, profound and unexplained fatigue, swollen lymph glands in the armpits, groin or neck, diarrhea that last for more than a week, white spots or unusual blemishes on the tongue, mouth or throat, pneumonia, red, brown, pink or purplish blotches on or under the skin or inside the moth, nose or eyelids, and memory loss, depression or other neurological disorders

Resources: “Sex Was Never Meant To Kill You”, Why KNOW Abstinence Education Inc.; “Is Sex Safe?”, Grapevine Publications;  “How At Risk Are You?, Why KNOW Abstinence Education Inc

You need treatment immediately, contact your doctor or one of these clinics:

        City of Houston ($6.00)                  Behind Ben Taub        713-794-9640

        UTMB (sliding scale charges)     Pearland                       281-485-3220

        Baylor (ages 13–21 only - free)   Medical Center            713-873-3601

You must stop sexual activity

You need to notify sexual partners