STDs are sexually transmitted diseases, like herpes, gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, and AIDS.  The only sure way to avoid getting STDs is not to have sex.  Physicians list more than 30 infectious agents that are sexually transmitted.  STDs affect men and women of all economic backgrounds and economic levels.  Approximately 12 million people are affected with STDs every year.  STDs are considered a major growing public health problem for the 90s.  Why?  One of the reasons is that during the last few decades, younger people have been experimenting with sex earlier and experimenting with multiple partners.  Additionally, people who are sexually active also tend to have more than one sex partner thus increasing their risk of exposure to STDs. 

·        STDs can cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which can damage a woman’s fallopian tubes and result in pelvic pain and sterility. 

·        Tubal pregnancies (where the fetus grows in the fallopian tube instead of the womb), sometimes fatal to the mother and always fatal to the fetus. 

·        Cancer of the cervix in women.

·        Sterility – the inability to have children – in both men and women.

·        Damage to major organs, such as the heart, kidneys, and the brain, if STDs go untreated death can occur, especially with HIV infection. 

Sexually transmitted diseases affect more than 12 million Americans each year, many of whom are teenagers or young adults.  Using drugs or alcohol increases your chances of getting STDs because these substances can interfere with your judgment and your ability to use a condom properly. 

Intravenous drug use puts a person at higher risk for HIV and hepatitis B because IV drug users usually share needles.  The more partners you have, the higher your chance of being exposed to HIV or other STDs.  This is because it is difficult to know whether a person is infected, or has had sex with people who are more likely to be infected due to intravenous drug use or other risk factors.

You cannot tell by looking whether a person is infected with HIV or another STD.