Sexually transmitted diseases on the rise: the World Health Organization raises the alarm on the lack of awareness and on the fact that the guard has let down, after the successes in the HIV anti-retroviral therapies.
Infection numbers continue to grow in recent years. L’Higher Institute of Health speaks of a growth of 37.1% in recent years. The identikit of the patients has changed: the band that sees the greatest increase is that of young heterosexuals between 14 and 25 years old. The further problem is that, especially the boys, do not visit the andrologist, unlike their peers. The consequence is that they find out they have the disease when the symptoms are already prominent.
Sexually transmitted diseases on the rise: the most common are warts
The lion’s share is made up of warts, which account for 40% of all sexual infections. These are small growths found in the area of the sexual organs, but also in the mouth or throat.
The cause must be sought in some strains of the human papilloma virus, especially type 6 and 11. Most affected are men between the ages of 15 and 40. Women are protected by HPV vaccination, which they have been doing for some time around 11 years. The vaccine is now also available for children of the same age.
The transmission of warts is very easy and usually occurs by contact between the genital organs. They have no particular symptoms, but grow in number and therefore must be eliminated as soon as possible. They can also appear weeks, sometimes months, after intercourse.
Warts: how are they eliminated?
Usually they are removed with:
cryotherapy, i.e. with their burning using cold liquid nitrogen, laser therapy, diathermocoagulation, i.e. burning with heat, surgical removal or with the local application of drugs with an immunomodulatory (imiquimod, interferon) or cytotoxic (podophyllin) function.
STDs on the rise: Beware of syphilis
The second sexually transmitted disease in our country by diffusion is syphilis. Although there are also rapid tests that can be purchased both in pharmacies and online, many people only resort to tests after the infection has manifested itself.
Syphilis presents itself with painless pinkish raised lesions that remain for a few days and then disappear. Without adequate treatment, the bacterium continues to spread and after weeks or months it can reach the second stage. In two thirds of cases the body manages to get rid of it. In more than 30% of cases, however, tertiary syphilis can appear. Here the situation is very compromised with damage to various organs with the risk of dementia and heart problems.
What is the therapy?
If treated immediately, the therapy is antibiotics and very fast. In the case of tertiary syphilis, fortunately very rare today, it is necessary to turn to injections of antibiotics capable of reaching the central nervous system. Generally this treatment is in hospital.
The disease that has grown the most is gonorrhea
The infection that has seen the greatest growth is the gonorrhea. Here the cases have grown by as much as 77% in recent years.
Even for this disease, early diagnosis is essential. If not treated promptly it can lead to chronic consequences such as pelvic inflammatory disease.