More FAQs on STD
October 14, 2003 | 12:00am
Following recent articles in this section on STD (sexually transmitted disease) or STI (sexually transmitted infection, which is how the World Health Organization likes to call it), we received a flood of questions on today’s most frequently discussed topic (that is, since one imprudent/scandal-prone former presidential daughter/actress/TV talk show host made a public disclosure that she recently underwent treatment for STD). In yesterday’s priggish society, STD was talked about in the softest of whispers and usually, only in the private, antiseptic confines of a doctor’s clinic. Now, it’s discussed as openly and with much the same passion as politics (probably an incurable infection that has plagued our country far too long). So here are more frequently asked questions on STD and their answers straight from the mouth of the expert, Dr. Rebecca Singson of Makati Medical Center and Asian Hospital and Medical Center:
What is STD and how does one get it?
Dr. Rebecca Singson: Sexually transmitted disease is an infection that can be transferred by bodily fluids from one person to another through sexual contact. By sexual contact, we mean not just intercourse. It also includes kissing, oral-genital contact and the use of sexual toys such as vibrators.
Can one get STD from kissing?
You’d better believe it! Most people think that kissing is a safe activity. If you have a break in your gums, like an abrasion from toothbrushing or from dentures, you can contract herpes or even syphilis through this apparently harmless act. Prolonged open-mouth kissing could damage the mouth or lips and allow HIV to pass from an infected person to a partner and then enter the body through cuts or sores in the mouth.
Can one be infected with an STD and not know it?
You certainly can! Chlamydia is a very dangerous STD because it usually has no symptoms (75 percent of infected women and 25 percent of infected men show no symptoms at all). In 1988, I made a study on the incidence of chlamydia in pregnant women at the charity outpatient section of Makati Medical Center and found that 7 percent of these women coming for prenatal checkups were positive for chlamydia and did not know it. If not treated, the organism can render the fetus blind after the baby passes through the birth canal during a normal delivery.
Hepatitis B can also manifest with no symptoms in about one-third of people. Gonorrhea and AIDS may likewise show no symptoms initially.
Can safe sex protect one from STD?
It is a common notion that condoms can protect against STDs. The truth is, wearing a condom can protect against HIV and gonorrhea but is less effective against herpes (lesions can extend outside the genital area), trichomoniasis and chlamydia (which can both colonize the rectal area). Condoms can only partially protect against the Human Papilloma virus, the cause of genital warts, because the warts are commonly found in the testes, which are unprotected by the condom. Sad to say, there is really no such thing as "safe" sex. Sex in the context of a monogamous relationship, where neither party is infected with an STD, may be considered safe, but the only thing that’s really safe is abstinence.
If you have STD, can you continue to have sex?
Refrain from having sex once you are diagnosed to have STD. Especially during treatment, it is important to stop all sexual activity to prevent a reinfection.
If you’re pregnant, can STD harm your baby?
Yes, it can! STD in pregnant women can cause spontaneous abortion and infection in the newborn. Low birth weight and prematurity appear to be associated with STDs, including chlamydial infection and trichomoniasis. Congenital or perinatal infection, which occurs around the time of birth, is found in 30 to 70 percent of infants born to infected mothers, and complications may include pneumonia, eye infection and permanent neurologic damage.
Research shows that 20 to 30 percent of infants born to infected mothers are HIV-infected and develop symptoms of AIDS within a year after birth. Twenty percent of them die by the time they are 18 months old.
Can STD cause infertility?
Certainly! The most notorious ones are gonorrhea and chlamydia, which block the fallopian tubes and render the victim infertile.
What are the long-term effects of STD?
In women, untreated chlamydial infection may lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), one of the most common causes of ectopic pregnancy and infertility in women. If not treated, 40 percent of gonorrhea victims contract PID, which can cause sterility. The Hepatitis virus increases the risk for liver cancer while the Human Papilloma virus significantly increases the risk for invasive cervical cancer. Those who are chronically infected may develop cirrhosis, liver cancer and immune system disorders.
What can be done to prevent STD?
The US National Institute of Allergic and Infectious Disease recommends the following:
• Have a mutually monogamous sexual relationship with an uninfected partner.
• The younger you are when having sex for the first time, the more susceptible you are to developing an STD. So delay having sexual relations as long as possible.
• The risk of acquiring an STD also increases with the number of partners over a lifetime, so minimize promiscuous relationships.
• Have regular checkups for STD, even in the absence of symptoms. These tests can be done during a routine visit to the doctor’s office.
• Learn the common symptoms of STDs. Seek medical help immediately if any suspicious symptoms develop, even if they are mild.
• Avoid sex during menstruation. HIV-infected women are probably more infectious and HIV-uninfected women are probably more susceptible to becoming infected during that time.
• Avoid douching as it removes some of the normal protective bacteria in the vagina and increases the risk of getting STD.
Dear Consumerline,
Greetings from the financial center of the Philippines!
Permit us to react to an item in your column of Sept. 16 titled "A senior citizen’s grave concern," citing the letter of Ramon Alfonso Fuentes, an avowed "triumphalist senior citizen."
Perhaps through you, we can inform Mr. Fuentes of the way we in the Makati City government show our respect for and gratitude to the elderly in our city.
We have granted benefits to Makati senior citizens way beyond those mandated by the national law. For starters, they are entitled to enter movie theaters in the city without paying a single centavo, which represents a 100 percent "discount," as opposed to the 20 percent required by national law. They also receive free vitamins and, by appointment, also receive free medical treatment right in the privacy and convenience of their homes. On their birth anniversaries, they are gifted with a birthday cake that is delivered to their residence. And while it is not the most pleasant thing to talk or think about, they also receive a P3,000 burial assistance under our "Blu Card" program. Possibly in two or three years, we should be able to embark on a pension program for them.
Respect for elders is not just a traditional Filipino custom; it is also rooted in the fact that it is to the past that we owe the present. The way that the Makati elderly have been treated has, in fact, earned them the endearing monicker of "seniorito/seniorita" citizens, indicating their being pampered.
But the elderly do not just want to be pampered, they really want to continue being useful to their families, and to society as a whole. Thus, apart from the many activities that we regularly line up for them, we have recently deputized some of them to help us in the enforcement of our anti-smoking ordinance. Those deputized have responded with enthusiasm.
We impart this information not to solicit a pat on the back, but so that others may be encouraged to show the respect and gratitude due the elderly in their own way, for we can all sadly sense that it is a vanishing virtue.
On our part, we must say that we are more than content with the numerous letters, phone calls, e-mails and even personal messages of thanks from our senior citizens.
– Jejomar C. Binay Mayor
Dear Mr. Fuentes,
This refers to your letter that appeared in the Consumerline column of The PHILIPPINE STAR last Sept. 16 under the subtitle "A senior citizen’s grave concern." We would like to apprise you on what has transpired in the past months regarding the review of the income cut-off for senior citizens.
The Senior Citizens Sectoral Council (SCSC) of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), during its meeting on the finalization of the NAPC Senior Citizens Sectoral Agenda held on March 27, 2003, requested the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) to spearhead an ad hoc group that will review/update the annual income cut-off for the elderly to be qualified for the issuance of the senior citizen’s card.
An ad hoc group was subsequently organized by NEDA, with representatives from the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and the NEDA Social Development Staff. The NAPC-SCSC also agreed to sit down with the group when needed. The group, through NEDA and NSCB, raised the issue to the Technical Working Group on Income and Poverty Statistics (TWG-IPS), being the designated body to review the official poverty methodology and to make further studies on poverty and income estimation.
Information on the income and expenditure of families with senior citizens based on the merged files of the 2000 Family Income and Expenditure Survery (FIES) and the fourth quarter 2000 round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) were studied and analyzed by the NSCB technical staff, taking into consideration the recommendations of the TWG-IPS. A report was then presented and discussed in the TWG meeting held on Aug. 18, 2003 where Marcelino dela Cruz and Andres Boquiren, both NAPC Senior Citizens Sectoral Representatives, were invited. This report would be used by the Social Development Committee of NEDA as an input in coming up with a decision on the income cut-off for senior citizens in its meeting on Sept. 24, 2003.
Should you need any clarification on this matter, you can call Didi Ignacio, officer-in-charge of the NSCB Social Sectors B Division, at telefax no. 896-5390 or e-mail rm.ignacio@nscb.gov.ph.
– Romulo Virola
Secretary-General, NSCB
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