Practice Safe Sex And Say Goodbye To NonGonococcal Urethritis
STDs are commonly transmitted by direct contact with an infected area of the skin, even if you are using condoms. This happens because STD-causing bacteria and viral germs affect not just one part of the body. This is true for infections such as papilloma, Chlamydia, herpes and syphilis. They can infect any part of the genital area, which is true for both men and women.
NonGonococcal urethritis is an infection of the urethra, caused by different agents from those, which cause gonorrhea. This infection is caused most of the times by the microbe called Chlamydia. It is more frequent in the case of men, because a woman’s urethra is rarely infected during an intercourse. Men between 15 and 30, who in general have more sex partners, are prone to the risk to contact the disease. Most of the times, the disease occurs because of unprotected sex.
The disease rarely happens because of other causes. Some of the symptoms of this disease are burning sensation and pain while urination; sometimes, small leakage from the urethra appears. The symptoms manifest normally in 1 to 5 weeks from exposure. On the other hand, some people never develop any apparent symptoms.
The infected person can infect other people as soon as he contracts the disease up to the time he gets cured. There is a possibility that disease will recur. This disease can lead to the swelling of the testicles and infection of the prostate if not immediately treated. Use a condom and wash the genital area after intercourse to reduce the possibility of infection. Reducing the number of your sexual partners could also be a great idea to avoid this infection. Australian researchers of the Sexual Health Centre in Melbourne published an article in the Journal of Infectious Disease of their findings that oral sex could also cause nongonococcal urethritis, saying further that this infection can affect both men and women. Some of the consequences of this illness to women are development of inflammatory pelvic disease, sterility and recurring pelvic pains. In majority of the occurrences, the cause of nongonococcal urethritis cannot be established.
However, it is considered that in 30 - 50% of the cases the Chlamydia microorganism leads to this disease and in 10-20% of the cases, the triggering microorganism is mycoplasma genitalium. This disease can be treated with antibiotics and the results are satisfactory in general.
Three hundred twenty nine who were nongonococcal urethritis positive participated in another study conducted by researchers in Melbourne during the period March 2004 and March 2005. Another set of volunteers who did not show any symptoms also participated. They filled out survey forms about their sexual habits and their urine samples were tested for micro-organisms that cause urethritis.
Chlamydia infections were a common occurrence both for homosexual and heterosexual men (22% and 15% respectively) and much more prevalent compared to the controlled group. Chlamydia and Mycoplasma genitalium infections most often occur with unprotected vaginal or oral sex. Still, being fully aware of the consequence of unprotected sex can be the best preventive measure for this disease.
Tags: Health