Sexually Transmitted Diseases - Diagnosis

The diagnosis of STDs depends to a large extent on the patient. Teenagers should learn the symptoms of various STDs. When they observe any of these symptoms in their own bodies, they should seek medical attention.

This principle is valuable advice for most diseases and disorders. But it is especially important in the case of STDs. People are often reluctant to talk about personal matters, such as sexual activity. They may prefer to ignore changes they observe in their genital areas or changes they know may be related to sexual activity. But timely treatment can stop STDs from becoming even more serious.

Most STDs are relatively easy to diagnose. The symptoms described above are easy to observe and quite characteristic of sexually transmitted diseases. Many of the diseases can be diagnosed with simple blood tests. The organism that causes the diseases can generally be detected and identified in the patient's blood.

Doctors often test for more than one STD at a time. A person who is infected with syphilis, for example, may also have gonorrhea at the same time.

Notification

Sexually transmitted diseases are regarded as a public health problem. That is, they do not involve a single person alone, but the health of the entire community. A person diagnosed with an STD was infected by someone else and is at risk of transmitting to others.

To cut down on the spread of STDs through a community, many states have reporting laws. These laws require that public health officials find and contact the partners of anyone diagnosed with an STD. The purpose of these laws is to reduce the spread of STDs through the community. In an ideal situation, patients themselves will contact all their partners. To make sure that happens, public health officials usually ask patients for the names and addresses of those partners. They then follow up with interviews to let those partners know that they may also be infected with an STD.