Sexually Transmitted Diseases

The health of a nation is determined by the healthy persons of the fertile age with the ability to produce offsprings. However, every year, humanity is increasingly faced with the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Satterwhite et al. (2013) revealed that more than 100 million of new sexually transmitted infections, excluding HIV, occur among young people under the age of 25 annually. The high rates of STIs incidence in the world are associated with the features of the behavioral characteristics of the younger generation. It should be noted that the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) is not typical for all young people but only for specific categories, implying their conditions of life, level of education, upbringing, and the nature of behavioral norms learned during life.

The most common sexually transmitted diseases are syphilis, gonorrhea, chancroid, chlamydia, trichomoniasis, mycoplasmosis, genital herpes, bacterial vaginosis, etc. Nowadays, the early sexual activity of adolescents has become one of the most important social problems in the USA. In the youth environment, actually, all models of sexual conduct and relations are acceptable. Alcohol consumption and psychotropic drugs leave their imprint on the sexual behavior of young people. Woo and Robinson (2015) argued that in the analysis of theoretical approaches to the problem of sexually transmitted infections, it should be noted that these infections are a major health problem due to their high prevalence (p. 1218). The risk of developing severe reproductive harm is widespread in congenital diseases and considering the significant severity of infections in children, leading to disability in some cases.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by bacteria of the species Treponema pallidum. This illness causes severe lesions of internal organs as well as the nervous and musculoskeletal systems. According to Habel, Kroeger, Bolan, and Aral (2017), the diagnosis of syphilis is based on clinical and laboratory methods of data collection. The first stage is the survey of a patient followed by an anamnesis. It is necessary to confirm the source of the disease, namely- a sexual partner already infected if preventive measures were not followed. The patient should tell what disturbed him in the past concentrating on similar tumors in the genital organs and enlarged lymph nodes. The doctor is obliged to examine the patient, genital organs, the anus, the skin, and the mucous membrane, and by means of palpation, to determine the state of the peripheral lymph nodes. Further, it is essential to determine the stage of syphilis being discussed. The causative agent of syphilis may well-hidden; thus for the diagnosis of the pathology, serological research should be conducted. It is based on the particular properties of the body. Specifically, during various diseases, certain antibody classes, individual for every infection, occur. It emerges for the protection from the enemy, and in this case, it is not the infection itself but the defenders from it. It becomes clear whether the reaction of the body is proper and whether there is indeed a problem. The serologic examination is laboratory analysis. An immunogenic chain reaction antigen-antibody is determined from the plasma of capillary or venous blood. The most common way to detect this venereal disease is to combine non-eponemic and treponemal tests. Nontherponeum examinations show antibodies belonging to the IgG, IgM group.

Syphilis is a threat to public health on the level of morbidity, though the significant difficulties in the therapy of disease are traced not only among sexually transmitted illnesses but among all infectious diseases as well. The incidence of syphilis from the 90s of the last century is inexorably rising. Besides, such a disease as syphilis is particularly dangerous. Young people who are carriers of this disease’s pathogens are a danger to society. The acts that pose a risk of infection can be expressed in the following forms: when the patient does not notify persons that he or she had connections with, the latter evade isolation, vaccination, etc. The sick does not adhere to the rules for the prevention of infections.

For many years in the past, syphilis was treated using drugs containing mercury compounds that were extremely toxic and did not produce sufficient results. Habel, et al. (2017) noted that the physicians have learned to treat the disease at all stages; however, therapy requires a serious approach and the implementation of all phases of treatment. It is necessary to completely exclude sexual intercourse and carefully examine the patient. Due to the high susceptibility of the pathogen to the antibiotics, their appointment is mandatory. In the vast majority of cases, patients are prescribed antibiotics since the latter have a detrimental effect on the pale treponeme causing syphilis. The most effective way to treat this disease is to use water-soluble penicillins. Such treatment can be done only under stationary conditions. In addition to antibiotic therapy, all patients need immune medicine. The patients take intramuscular immune stimulants and natural remedies as well as follow the prescribed vitamin therapy, stimulating the body’s protective forces.

The education plan for a Syphilis patient is prophylaxis. The prevention is an effective way to stay safe from one of the most dangerous diseases. Syphilis, like any other sexually transmitted illness, is better prevented than treated. Moreover, its prevention does not imply anything complicated but rather coincides with the rules of personal hygiene. In accordance with Jones, Eathington, Baldwin, and Sipsma (2014), the main methods of preventing syphilis in the semiautomatic are informing the population about the dangers of this disease and its methods of prophylaxis through the media. The development and the implementation of educational programs on sexual education and safe sex, starting with a school bench, will reduce the threat. The individual prophylaxis of syphilis involves the use of mechanical means of contraception and the exclusion of random sexual intercourse. The regional medical projects should include epidemiological control systems for the spread of syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Gonorrhea is a venereal disease caused by a gonococcal microbe. Microorganisms are not resistant to external influences as they quickly die when dried; however, they remain viable for a long time in a humid environment. The source of infection is a patient with gonorrhea, often with the asymptomatic or chronic form, or gonococcus. Bautista et al. (2016) wrote that during intercourse, gonococcus falls on the mucous membrane of the genital organs or the urethra causing local inflammation. The infection can spread to the rectum. The diagnosis of gonorrhea is based on interviewing and examining the patient and collecting anamnesis that is necessary to establish the dynamics of the disease. The varieties of gonorrhea diagnosis are bacterioscopic, bacteriological, and serological diagnostic methods, immunofluorescence analysis, enzyme immunoassay, and the polymerase chain reaction. The incidence of gonorrhea increases every year among the young population. The reasons for this are the high density of the population, the free treatment of moral and ethical norms, especially in sexual relations, and the high level of alcoholism and drug addiction that is directly correlated with inadequate sexual behavior inherent in large industrial cities. One of the problems with STDs is the high level of morbidity among men and women of reproductive age.

Gonorrhea is treated in a hospital after the preliminary diagnosis and the laboratory detection of gonococcus. The patients should not self-medicate. The acute and subacute forms of gonorrhea are nursed with antibacterial drugs that possess bacteriostatic and bactericidal action. The less symptomatic, asymptomatic, chronic, and complicated forms of gonorrhea are handled in a complex manner. Nowadays, the gonococcal infection is treated with cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, and spectinomycin. Sometimes, the doctor prescribes sulfanilamide preparations. The physician, taking into account the anamnesis (the presence of allergies) and the sensitivity of gonococcus to antibacterial drugs, chooses drugs for the treatment. In addition, patients undergo immunotherapy and physiotherapy.

The promotion of preventing the incidence of gonorrhea is formal. The sanitary and educational work among young people (lectures, conversations, and open lessons in schools) states the lack of elementary knowledge of anatomy and physiology and even the common awareness about hygiene among students of higher educational institutions, not to mention students of schools. Jones, et al. (2014) observed that to stop the spread of STDs is impossible without new forms of sanitary and educational work among the population, especially young people. It will require a radical rethinking of the approach to this problem; only then it will be possible to solve it at the regional and, in case of efficiency, state levels.

The increase in the incidence of STIs, including syphilis and gonorrhea, is largely due to the spread of the practice of risky sexual behaviors among young people and the inadequacy of prevention and education programs. Important points are the use of various methods for informing the population and changing the behavioral model of the youth. Developing adequate forms of preventive and curative work should be a decisive factor. The fight against the spread of infections is a priority area of healthcare. However, the prevention of syphilis and gonorrhea is still poorly integrated. The priority is given to programs concerning the training of safe sexual behavior and the approximation of health services to the general population, especially people aged 15-24 years. It is advisable to develop detailed approaches for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of STI taking into account the specifics of the young population. The priority is to use tests for the laboratory diagnosis that does not require additional equipment and give a quick result.

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