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Sexually Transmitted Diseases are not
pleasant! If you as man get one then where was the condom? where
was the sense? and where had your partner been before and how many
times and whom with?
If you are very sexually active with a lot of
partners just remember you might be attracting certain women with
the same sex drive and there are some very nasty virus's that you
can put yourself in the firing line for.
Epstein-Barr Virus and Infectious
Mononucleosis
Epstein-Barr virus, frequently referred to as
EBV, is a member of the herpesvirus family and one of the most
common human viruses. The virus occurs worldwide, and most people
become infected with EBV sometime during their lives. In the United
States, as many as 95% of adults between 35 and 40 years of age
have been infected. Infants become susceptible to EBV as soon as
maternal antibody protection (present at birth) disappears. Many
children become infected with EBV, and these infections usually
cause no symptoms or are indistinguishable from the other mild,
brief illnesses of childhood. In the United States and in other
developed countries, many persons are not infected with EBV in
their childhood years. When infection with EBV occurs during
adolescence or young adulthood, it causes infectious mononucleosis
35% to 50% of the time.
Symptoms of infectious mononucleosis are
fever, sore throat, and swollen lymph glands. Sometimes, a swollen
spleen or liver involvement may develop. Heart problems or
involvement of the central nervous system occurs only rarely, and
infectious mononucleosis is almost never fatal. There are no known
associations between active EBV infection and problems during
pregnancy, such as miscarriages or birth defects. Although the
symptoms of infectious mononucleosis usually resolve in 1 or 2
months, EBV remains dormant or latent in a few cells in the throat
and blood for the rest of the person's life. Periodically, the
virus can reactivate and is commonly found in the saliva of
infected persons. This reactivation usually occurs without symptoms
of illness.
EBV also establishes a lifelong dormant
infection in some cells of the body's immune system. A late event
in a very few carriers of this virus is the emergence of Burkitt's
lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, two rare cancers that are
not normally found in the United States. EBV appears to play an
important role in these malignancies, but is probably not the sole
cause of disease.
Most individuals exposed to people with
infectious mononucleosis have previously been infected with EBV and
are not at risk for infectious mononucleosis. In addition,
transmission of EBV requires intimate contact with the saliva
(found in the mouth) of an infected person. Transmission of this
virus through the air or blood does not normally occur. The
incubation period, or the time from infection to appearance of
symptoms, ranges from 4 to 6 weeks. Persons with infectious
mononucleosis may be able to spread the infection to others for a
period of weeks. However, no special precautions or isolation
procedures are recommended, since the virus is also found
frequently in the saliva of healthy people. In fact, many healthy
people can carry and spread the virus intermittently for life.
These people are usually the primary reservoir for person-to-person
transmission. For this reason, transmission of the virus is almost
impossible to prevent.
The clinical diagnosis of infectious
mononucleosis is suggested on the basis of the symptoms of fever,
sore throat, swollen lymph glands, and the age of the patient.
Usually, laboratory tests are needed for confirmation. Serologic
results for persons with infectious mononucleosis include an
elevated white blood cell count, an increased percentage of certain
atypical white blood cells, and a positive reaction to a "mono
spot" test.
There is no specific treatment for infectious
mononucleosis, other than treating the symptoms. No
antiviral drugs or vaccines are available. Some physicians have
prescribed a 5-day course of steroids to control the swelling of
the throat and tonsils. The use of steroids has also been reported
to decrease the overall length and severity of illness, but these
reports have not been published.
CHLAMYDIA TRACHOMARIS - Go here for the
fact sheet on Detection & Treatment of this silent but deadly
STD
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