A major outbreak of syphilis has seen plenty of people left sweating about their status in Ireland.
It's one of the most common STIs but it is quite treatable.
An STI is a sexually transmitted infection.
STIs are passed on through sexual contact with someone who is infected.
The outbreak has left many people concerned, with an expected rise in the use of the HSE's Home STI kits.
Furthermore, there is plenty of information available from the HSE surrounding the infections.
Here are a few symptoms to watch out for for the more common STI's.
Chlamydia
Half the men with chlamydia and 7 out of 10 women with chlamydia don’t experience any symptoms
If you do have symptoms, they include:
Men:
- Discharge from the tip of the penis
- pain or discomfort passing urine
- bowel symptoms such as diarrhoea, pain, mucus discharge or bleeding from the back passage
- pain and swelling in one or both testicles
-
Women
- bleeding after sex>
- bleeding between periods
- change in your normal vaginal discharge
- pain passing urine
- pain in your abdomen
Genital herpes
Many people with the herpes virus do not experience any symptoms when they are first infected and, as a result, do not know that they have it.
If you get symptoms, your first episode (sometimes referred to as an attack or an outbreak) will usually be the most severe.
Symptoms are multiple spots or red bumps around the genital area. These can be very painful. In time, these swellings can break open and form sores or ulcers which gradually crust over and heal.
You may also have swollen glands in the groin, flu-like symptoms, a feeling of being unwell and pain when passing urine.
Genital warts (HPV)
Genital warts are ‘warts’ in the genital area caused by a virus called the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV)
Most people with HPV do not have any symptoms and they don’t know that they have the infection. If you do get genital warts, they are often flesh-coloured lumps or bumps on the skin, anywhere in the genital or anal area. They may appear weeks to months after you come into contact with the virus.
Public lice (crabs)
Pubic lice are small insects that live in the kind of coarse hair you might have on your chest, abdomen, underarms and pubic areas. They do not live in head hair. Their eggs are called ‘nits’.
You may have one or more of the following symptoms:
- itching
- black spots (from the lice droppings) on your underwear
- brown lice eggs in your pubic hair
- small blood spots on your skin or underwear
Gonorrhoea
Gonorrhoea is a curable bacterial infection.
If it is not treated, it can cause infertility in women.
Gonorrhoea can infect the cervix (neck of the womb),urethra (the tube through which you pass urine), the rectum (back passage), pharynx (throat) and sometimes the eyes.
Men
- discharge from the tip of the penis
- burning pain when passing urine
- 1 in 10 men have no symptoms
- bowel symptoms such as diarrhoea, pain, mucus discharge or bleeding from the back passage
- pain and swelling in one or both testicles
Women
- 7 in 10 women have no symptoms
