The doctor performs the diagnosis of the disease depending on the stage by examining a sample from chancres under a special microscope known as a dark-field microscope. The doctor may also perform a blood test to look for signs of infection. The doctor knows the best way to arrive at you confidentially with any test results and let the doctor handle the matter.

Antibiotics are used at the early stages to cure syphilis and are quite effective. A single intramuscular injection of penicillin will cure a person who has had syphilis infection for less than a year. If anybody has been infected for a while then the treatment will continue for a longer period of time. Additional doses are needed for the treatment. Other antibiotics are also available for treating syphilis for people who are allergic to penicillin. There are no home therapeutics or over-the-counter drugs for curing syphilis. Though the treatment kills the syphilis bacterium and stops further damage but it cannot repair the damage that has already been done. Since affective treatment is handy, it is necessary for people to persons be screened for syphilis and other STDs on an on-going basis if they are engaged in unprotected sex or have multiple sex partner.

While undergoing a treatment a person should abstain from sexual intercourse with new partners till the syphilis sores are totally healed as this may increase the chances of spreading the syphilis infection to other persons. If a person is diagnosed with syphilis he or she must notify their respective partner(s) and the partners also must be tested and receive treatment if necessary.

What is Syphilis? What are the symptoms of Syphilis? Diagnosis of Syphilis Treatment of Syphilis

Unfortunately, during the last stage of the syphilis infection the damage to the body cannot be treated. Nevertheless, even in the late stage, it is essential to get treatment. This prevents additional damage to the body. Anyone with whom the person have had unprotected sex should also undergo a syphilis test and diagnosis examination immediately.

It is better to prevent the disease rather than to suffer and cure it later. The best way to prevent syphilis any STD is abstinence from sex. And people who decide to have sex must use protection, practice safe sex and have as few sexual partners as possible.

There are 3 ways for the diagnosis of the syphilis.

* Recognizing the signs and symptoms
* Examining blood samples
* Identifying syphilis bacteria under a microscope

The doctor generally uses all these methods for diagnosing syphilis and decides upon the stage of bacterial infection. The first steps in diagnosis of syphilis are discussing the history of the symptoms and sexual activities of the patient by a health professional and having a physical examination. Some health care providers perform syphilis diagnosis by examining sample from a chancre or the infectious sore by means of a special microscope called a dark-field microscope. When observed through the microscope, if the infection is present in the chancre or sore then the syphilis bacteria will show up

A blood test is one of the methods to determine whether a person has syphilis infection or not. Shortly after a person is infected with syphilis bacteria, detection of the disease can be done by the antibodies that the body produces by a precise, safe, and low-cost blood test.

What is Syphilis? What are the symptoms of Syphilis? Diagnosis of Syphilis Treatment of Syphilis

There are several blood tests options available and generally one of several blood tests is done for the confirmation of the infection. Though Blood tests provide confirmation of infection they may sometimes give false-negative results and may not show signs of an infection even if the infection is present. This may happen for up to 3 months after infection. False-positive results may also occur where the tests may show signs of an infection when it is not present. Hence, two blood tests are generally done for diagnosis. Analysis of blood tests for syphilis infection can be difficult. Repeated tests are sometimes done and are necessary to confirm the diagnosis. Even after the disease has been successfully treated, for months or years a low level of antibodies is likely to stay in the body.

Most of the people infected with syphilis do not show any symptoms for years; however they remain at risk for late complications if they are left untreated. Even though the infection is spread from persons having sores who are in the primary or the secondary stage, many of these sores are unnoticed. Thus, infection may spread from persons who are not aware of their condition.

Syphilis occurs in several different stages and each stage has its own distinct signs and symptoms. Sometimes a person may detect the disease from its symptoms but it’s rather a difficult task as the symptoms of Syphilis is indistinguishable from many other diseases. The stages of syphilis are:

Primary Stage

The primary stage of syphilis is generally noticeable by the occurrence of a single sore or a chancre (pronounced: shang-ker), but there may be numerous sores. It takes 10 to 90 days, 21 days on average between infection with syphilis and before the first onset of the symptoms to appear. The chancre is usually stiff, round, tiny, and pain free. It appears at the point where the infection got into the body. The sores last 3 to 6 weeks, and generally heal with no treatment. Though, if sufficient treatment is not done, the infection advances to the secondary stage.

Secondary Stage

The secondary stage is distinguished by skin rash and mucous membrane lesions. In this stage the growth of a rash generally begins on one or more areas of the body. The rash generally doesn’t cause itching. In the secondary syphilis the rashes generally occurs as the chancre heals or a few weeks after the chancre has healed. During the second stage of syphilis a typical rash may emerge as rough, red, or reddish brown spots on both the palms of the hands and the bottoms of the feet. However sometimes they are so faint that they are not noticed. Additionally fever, sore throat, swollen lymph glands, patchy hair loss, weight loss, headaches, muscle aches, and weakness may also constitute the symptoms of secondary syphilis. The signs and symptoms of will resolve with or without treatment. But if left untreated, it may progress into the next stage.

What is Syphilis? What are the symptoms of Syphilis? Diagnosis of Syphilis Treatment of Syphilis

Late and Latent Stages

As soon as the primary and secondary syphilis symptoms disappear, the late and the latent stage of syphilis begin. Syphilis continues to remain in the body if it is left untreated. Infection remains in the body even when there are no signs or symptoms. This latent stage can sometimes last for years. In about 15% of people if they have not been treated for syphilis, the last stage of syphilis develops. Syphilis can occur 10 – 20 years after the infection was first transmitted. During the late stage of syphilis the signs and symptoms that may occur are difficulty coordinating muscle movements, numbness, paralysis, dementia and gradual blindness. Later it may even lead to death if it is left untreated.

Syphilis progresses in stages and can damage many parts of the body. If syphilis is left untreated, it can progress to an advanced state where it creates serious health problems. Syphilis infection alternates with periods of being active and inactive (latent). The symptoms of the disease occur when the infection is active. But when the infection is inactive, no symptoms are visible albeit you still have syphilis.

Spirochetes, the bacterium that causes syphilis can be spread from person to person by means of direct contact with syphilis sore(s). Such direct contact usually happens during sexual intercourse (vaginal, anal, or oral sex). A person is infected with syphilis by touching the blood or sores of a person who is infected with syphilis, particularly sores on the person’s mouth, penis, vagina or anus (the opening to the rectum).

A pregnant woman suffering from syphilis can also infected the newborn baby during the childbirth. Syphilis is not spread from a towel, doorknob, or toilet seat.

The rate of Syphilis infection is not constant and tends to go up and down. In the U.S., new cases of syphilis infection are now at their lowest rate in 40 year. In more than 70% of U.S. counties no new occurrence of the disease were reported in the year 1996. Even the syphilis cases which occurred were confined to a few regions which included Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Richmond, and several other cities and counties, particularly in the South. Each year, most of the cases likely go unreported to the health officials

What is Syphilis? What are the symptoms of Syphilis? Diagnosis of Syphilis Treatment of Syphilis

During the 1990s there was a fall in the rate of people with syphilis infection. Though more recently there has been an increase in number of cases of syphilis. Most of these cases were particularly in young adults and in men who have male sexual partners.

During the early stages it is easy to treat syphilis. But if it is left untreated, severe health problems may occur due to the disease. It may even cause death. So it’s necessary for everybody to understand about the disease as much as one can.

Common signs/symptoms of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) are:

* Itching around the genital and/or vaginal discharge for women
* Discharge from the penis in men
* Pain during sexual intercourse or while urinating
* Pain in the pelvic region
* Sore throats in peoples who are active in oral sex.
* Pain in or around the anal area for people having anal sex
* Chancre sores (pain-free red sores) on the genital region, anus, tongue and/or throat
* A flaking rash on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet.
* Dark urine, loose, light-colored stools, and yellow eyes and skin.
* Small blisters on the genital region that turns into scabs
* Swollen glands, fever and body aches.
* Unusual infections, unexplained tiredness, night sweats and sudden weight loss.
* Soft, flesh-colored warts around the genitals.

Though most of the Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) can be detected by their symptoms, a diagnosis test is a must to be sure about the disease. The diagnosis is done through an exam by the doctor. The doctor takes a culture of the secretions from the vagina or penis, or blood for a blood test. If a person is found infected with STI the doctor usually prescribes antibiotics for the treatment. But it must be noted that for most of the STIs there is no cure at all. And the ones for whom the treatment is available they may reoccur. So it’s better to be careful regarding STI.

The best way to be safe from STIs is prevention. The only surefire way to prevent STIs is abstaining from sex. Even if you have sex, you can lower your risk of getting an STI by remaining faithful to your partner who’s also having sex with only you and nobody else and who doesn’t have an STI. You can practice safe sex by always using condoms when having sex, including oral and anal sex.

Gonorrhea is caused by a specific bacterium called Neisseria Gonorrhoeae. Gonorrhea rapidly spreads by contact of infected area of the body. Both men and women are at risk of getting gonorrhea. As gonorrhea sometimes show no symptoms at all, a pregnant woman may infect her baby as it passes through the birth canal. Gonorrhea can cause serious complications to the newborn baby.

As soon as a person notices the symptoms of gonorrhea, a diagnosis test must be done for the diagnosis of the disease. If a person is diagnosed with gonorrhea he or she must undergo a treatment as soon as possible to get rid of the infection. If you think you’re infected or you have had a partner who may have been infected with gonorrhea, you must go and consult your doctor or gynecologist. The doctor will then conduct the diagnosis test. The doctor performs the diagnosis test taking a sample by swabbing the vagina or penis for discharge. The sample will then be analyzed at the laboratory.

What is gonorrhea? What are the symptoms of gonorrhea? How can gonorrhea be diagnosed? How is gonorrhea treated?

If a person is diagnosed with gonorrhea infection, the doctor prescribes antibiotics for treating the infection. Anybody with whom the patient had had sex in the last 2 months, or last sexual partner if it has been more than 2 months since the patients last sexual experience, should also be tested and treated for gonorrhea immediately. A quick treatment will diminish the possibility of complications for a person who is a sexual partner and has gonorrhea. This lowers the chance of a person being reinfected if someone has sex with that partner again. Treating gonorrhea doesn’t make you immune to the disease; you can still be reinfected with the disease.

Several antibiotics have successfully cured gonorrhea in adolescents and adults. Though, drug-resistant variants of gonorrhea are growing in many regions of the world, including the United States. Thus successful treatment of gonorrhea is becoming more complex day by day. Since many people with gonorrhea also have other STDs, antibiotics for other sexually transmitted infections are generally given together. Individuals suffering from gonorrhea should be tested and treated for other STDs.

Antibiotics that may be used to treat gonorrhea include:

• Amoxicillin 2 g plus probenecid 1 g orally
• Ampicillin 2 to 3 g plus probenecid 1 g orally
• Azithromycin 2 g orally
• Cefixime or Suprax 400 mg orally
• Cefotaxime 500 mg by intramuscular injection
• Cefoxitin 2 g by intramuscular injection, plus probenecid 1 g orally
• Cefpodoxime (Vantin) 400 mg orally
• Ceftriaxone (Rocephin) 125 to 250 mg by intramuscular injection
• Ciprofloxacin 500 mg orally
• Levofloxacin 250 mg orally
• Ofloxacin 400 mg orally
• Spectinomycin 2 g by intramuscular injection

These drugs are all given as a single dose.

The level of tetracycline resistance in Neisseria gonorrhœae is now so high as to make it completely ineffective in most parts of the world.

The fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, levofloxacin) cannot be used in pregnancy. It is important to refer all sexual partners to be checked for gonorrhea to prevent spread of the disease and to prevent the patient from becoming re-infected with gonorrhea. Patients should also be offered screening for other sexually transmitted infections. In areas where co-infection with chlamydia is common, doctors may prescribe a combination of antibiotics, such as ceftriaxone with doxycycline or azithromycin, to treat both diseases.

Penicillin is ineffective at treating rectal gonorrhea: this is because other bacteria within the rectum produce ?-lactamases that destroy penicillin. All current treatments are less effective at treating gonorrhea of the throat, so the patient must be rechecked by throat swab 72 hours or more after being given treatment, and then retreated if the throat swab is still positive.

Although gonorrhea usually does not require follow-up (with the exception of rectal or pharyngeal disease), patients are usually advised to phone for results five to seven days after diagnosis to confirm that the antibiotic they received was likely to be effective. Patients are advised to abstain from sex during this time.

Drug resistant strains are known to exist.

Diagnosis of gonorrhea is done in laboratory after doing some tests. Several laboratory tests are available for the diagnosis of gonorrhea. A doctor or nurse can obtain a sample from the infected part of the body for testing. These parts may include cervix, urethra, rectum, or throat. Then the sample is send to the laboratory for analysis. Gonorrhea can also be diagnosed by urine testing in a laboratory if it is present in the cervix or urethra. A Gram stain is a quick laboratory test done for the diagnosis of gonorrhea in some clinics or doctor’s offices. A doctor examines the gram stain of a sample from a urethra or a cervix under a microscope to see if the gonorrhea bacterium is present or not. A Gram stain test works better for men than for women.

Though there are several laboratory tests available for gonorrhea, Healthcare providers test for gonorrhea in one of these two ways:

* Swab Test: A swab is taken from the urethra of a man, cervix of a woman, throat from the people who are engaged in oral sex, eye, and/or rectum from the people who have receptive anal sex. For women, the cervical swab is taken as part of a pelvic exam done with a speculum.

* Urine Test: Some Healthcare providers also use a urine test for the diagnosis of gonorrhea.

What is gonorrhea? What are the symptoms of gonorrhea? How can gonorrhea be diagnosed? How is gonorrhea treated?

Once a sample is collected, it is sent to a laboratory for testing. Testing may involve growing gonorrhea from the sample, looking for bacterial DNA, depending upon the sample collected and on the laboratory. The sample is also grown for using antibodies to discover whether or not the sample contains any bacteria.

Some Healthcare providers can also perform a test called a Gram stain at the time of your visit in their office. For a gram stain test a sample is collected from the urethra or cervix. The sample is stained with a special dye and examined under the microscope, which makes it easier to discover Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium responsible for gonorrhea. Though a gram stain test provides faster results than other forms of testing, it is not always accurate as the other tests. Moreover some doctors are not equipped to provide it.

An infected person began to show symptoms of the disease after a few days or few weeks of exposure from the virus. The symptoms of gonorrhea in the girls are different than the boys and vice versa.

A girl infected with gonorrhea may show no symptoms at all or the symptoms may be so mild that they go unnoticed most of the time until they become more severe. A girl may experience a burning sensation while urinating or in some cases they will have a yellow-green vaginal discharge. Girls may also have vaginal bleeding during menstrual periods. The infection may become more widespread and can move into the uterus or fallopian tubes. In such cases a girl may suffer from pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) can cause abdominal pain, fever, and pain during carnal knowledge, as well as the symptoms given above may occur.

What is gonorrhea? What are the symptoms of gonorrhea? How can gonorrhea be diagnosed? How is gonorrhea treated?

Guys infected with gonorrhea infection are much more likely to notice symptoms. But it may also happen that a might be suffering from a gonorrhea infection and have no symptoms at all. However, some men have signs or symptoms that take 2 to 5 days to appear after infection; symptoms can take as long as 30 days to appear. The infected person may not even know about his infection until the symptoms are visible. Guys often feel a burning sensation while urinating and yellowish-white discharge may transude from the urethra (at the tip of the penis). Gonorrhea can spread to the epididymis (the structure close to the testicle that helps in transporting sperm), causing pain and inflammation in the testicular region. This may result in scar tissue which might make a guy infertile.

Symptoms such as discharge, anal itching, soreness, bleeding, or painful bowel movements may occur in both men and women if they are infected with rectal infection. Rectal infection may also cause no symptoms. A sore throat may occur in case the throat is infected but generally causes no symptoms. The symptoms generally appear two to seven days after a person has been exposed to gonorrhea, and in case girls they may appear even later.

The most common way to get HPV viral infection is having oral, vaginal or anal sex with a HPV infected person. Itching and burning sensation are the common symptoms. Other symptoms include warts in and around the vagina or anus or on the cervix in females and in the males warts may appear on the penis, scrotum, groin, or thigh. It must be noted that even if a person is exposed to HPV virus the symptoms doesn’t occur immediately. After infection, it sometimes takes several months or years for symptoms to occur. And in some of the cases there are no symptoms at all.

At present there is no cure for HPV viral infection. No cure is available that’ll get rid of the HPV virus infection completely. But treatments are available that will help to reduce the quantity of warts and help them go away quickly. Don’t assume that after undergoing a treatment and disappearance of warts you became immune to the HPV virus. The HPV virus is still there, however it may not spread as easily. If you’re a sexually active person and think that you may have genital warts, or if you have had a partner who may have HPV infection, it’s better for you to see your doctor or gynecologist. Even if the warts are not visible the doctors can diagnose the existence of HPV in girls through a Pap smear test. Doctors can check up a guy to see if he has genital warts or not.

After doing an examination and diagnosis the doctor will proceed with the treatment, if necessary. There are numerous kinds of treatment for genital warts. The treatments of warts depends where the warts are located, how big they are, and how many there are, etc. The doctor treats the warts in several ways. Some of the warts are treated by application of special medications on them. If the warts are of large size, the doctor carefully “freezes” them off either by using a chemical or by laser treatment and removes them.

Since HPV virus remains in the body, warts can reoccur, you may need to visit the doctor again. Anybody with whom you’ve had sex should also be checked and treated for genital warts.

What are Genital Warts? What are the signs and symptoms of genital warts? What are the causes of Genital warts? How can genital warts be treated?

Home Remedy Tips For Common Genital Warts

Diet also has an effect on your genital warts. Changing your diet can help them disappear. In particular, beta carotene and folic acid help fight warts. These are found in abundance in radishes, mangos, squash and tomatoes. Red, orange and yellow fruits and vegetables often contain these acids. Leafy green vegetables also help. A diet with lots of cabbage or spinach is good for getting rid of warts. Caffeine and cigarettes are bad for you immune system and may keep your warts from going away.

- Apply vitamin E oil to the warts and you will find that they will generally just slough off over time.
- Crush up a garlic clove and rub the contents on your genital warts. Cover with a band-aid and the wart will fall off within one week.
- Cut up an onion and sprinkle salt on it, letting it sit this way over night. The next day collected the juices from the onion and salt mixture and apply it to warts three times daily until they disappear.
- Apple cider vinegar applied to the area two times a day, covering with a bandage between applications. With two times a day applications of apple cider vinegar the warts will fall off within 2-3 days.

- Fill your bathtub with just a couple inches of warm water. Sit in the water and soak the affected area for fifteen minutes.

- Using a plastic bottle to apply warm water to your affected areas will relieve discomfort and help keep clean.

- Use a heat lamp to dry the affected area. A hair dryer will also work. Because it will be hot, hold it at least a foot and a half from your skin to avoid irritation.

The prime cause of genital warts is a certain kind of virus. This virus known as human papillomavirus, in short HPV causes genital warts and spread from an infected person to a healthy person by close physical contact, usually through sexual contact. There are more than 100 types of HPV virus, but not all of them causes Genital warts. Only a few of them causes the disease. The virus is transmitted through skin-to-skin contact, but not everybody who’s been infected with the virus will develop genital warts. People, who are sexually active and are involved in sexual intercourse with multiple partners, are at great risk of having an HPV infection. If you are sexually active, it is better sex with only one partner who doesn’t have a HPV infection and only has sex with you lowers your risk of getting HPV viral infection. The teens are more likely to get infected as they are active in sexual intercourse. In rare cases both adults and children are infected indirectly. Newborn babies can also be infected during delivery by their mother if she is infected with genital warts during pregnancy and delivery, but such instances are very rare.

Genital warts is a sexually transmitted Infection. The HPV virus is commonly spread by oral, vaginal or anal sex with someone who already has a HPV viral infection. Gradually symptoms began to occur and a person will notice the warts in his or her genital area. It sometimes takes several months or years for symptoms to appear after infection — if there are symptoms at all. Some of the people don’t even show symptoms at all. Such persons are at great risk of spreading the disease as they assume that they are not at all infected and more people are infected through them.

What are Genital Warts? What are the signs and symptoms of genital warts? What are the causes of Genital warts? How can genital warts be treated?

In females, genital warts appear in and around the vaginal area or anus or on the cervix. In case of males, they appear on the penis, scrotum, groin, or thigh.

As said that prevention is better than cure. It is better to follow prevention rather than to suffer from the disease and cure it later on. Using condoms is a safe habit and may prevent you from having a HPV infection from and infected person. However, condoms can’t always cover all of the affected skin. The only surefire way of preventing the disease is complete abstinence.