SOC 152A Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Trichomonas Vaginalis, Scabies, Trichomoniasis
Chapter 15
●STIs used to be called venereal diseases
●First STI was syphilis
○Most likely christopher columbus and his crew brought it to the new world
■By 1918, 1 in 22 americans were infected
■Very little sympathy for those with syphilis
●Prostitutes spread syphilis
■Syphilis still exists today but is much less common
●AIDS’ history is similar to syphilis, it came from africa most likely
○Main difference is that AIDS has been compressed into a couple of decades
rather than half a millennium.
■AIDS can only be held at bay now a days whereas syphilis can be cured.
●The US has the highest incidence rates for curable STIs of any developed country
●Some STIs are readily treatable whereas others persist for a lifetime.
●Some STIs are reportable diseases - medical professionals who encounter cases are
required to notify state of federal authorities
○Main reportable ones are syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and HIV/AIDS
●There are marked differences in STIs between different racial/ethnic groups in the US
○African Americans in particular experience much higher STI rates than other
groups do
■especially for gonorrhea, which is 15x higher for black than white
○The rates for hispanic and native americans are also elevated, though less than
blacks.
○Asian americans have lower STI rates than white americans
●Difference between STI and STD
○STI occurs when an agent such as a bacterium enters a person’s body during a
sexual accounter and establishes itself there.
○STD is the harm to a person’s health that may be caused by such infection
■Some people who acquire an STI suffer no health consequences, or do so
only a long time after acquiring the infection. These are asymptomatic
carriers
●Lice and Mites
○Head and public lice, along with scabies mites are specialized for living on or in
human skin
○Pubic lice and scabies mites are spread by sexual contact
○These are called infestations rather than infections or diseases.
○Pubic lice aka crabs, are flat insects that grasp 2 hairs with crawlike legs,
anchoring them close to skin. Once anchored they gorge on the host's blood at
base of hair.
■Pubic lice lay eggs (nits) which glue onto hairs near the base.
■Nits hatch in a week
■Lice can survive for 2 days at the most not on body
●Possible to contract lice from a person or by using that persons
bedding, towels, clothing, etc.
■Pubic lice are probably the one sti that you don't need a medical degree
to diagnose.
●Treated with lotions or shampoo
○Scabies is an infestation with a parasitic mite
■Mites are arachnids (spiders)
■They make tunnels within the superficial layers of the skin.
■Scabies mites do not require hairy skin.
■Found most often in wrists, elbows, penis, knees, breasts, back, or
between fingers
■Scabies spreads from person to person easily
●Trichomoniasis is caused by a protozoan
○Trichomoniasis is an infection of the vagina or the male urethra and prostate
gland with trichomonas vaginalis
■Trichomonas is a single-celled protozoan with flagella.
○In women, trichomoniasis is marked by a foul-smelling, greenish, or frothy
discharge from the vagina.
■Although some women are asymptomatic carriers
○In men, trichomoniasis infections are usually asymptomatic. But sometimes
they are marked by slight discharge from the urethra, urge to urinate
frequently, and pain during urination
●Bacterial STIs can usually be treated with antibiotics
●Syphilis is caused by infection with a corkscrew-shaped bacterium or spirochete.
○Spread by direct contact, nearly always sexually
○If not treated, can last lifetime and cause death
○A man or woman can acquire syphilis by sexual contact with a person who is in
the primary or secondary stage of the disease or in the first year or so of the
latent phase
○Most commonly, infections come from a syphilitic sore, or chancre
○3 stages to untreated syphilis
■Primary syphilis - between 10 and 90 days after infection, a chancre
appears at site.
●Untreated, it will heal within 3-6 weeks.
■Secondary syphilis - may begin while primary chancre is still visible, or
it may be delayed for several weeks. The main sign of secondary syphilis
is a painless rash, which affects the palms of the hands and the soles of
the feet. Often accompanied with fever, swollen lymph nodes, sore
throat, and muscle pain.
●Untreated these symptoms go away within a few weeks
■Latent phase - happens when spirochetes are not eliminated at end of
secondary stage but continue to multiply in the body, even though the
symptoms are gone.
●After about a year of the latent phase, the person is no longer
infectious to sex partners. However a pregnant woman can pass
it to her fetus. (fetus can be stillborn, die neonatally, or suffer
severe neurological impairment.)
●During this phase, spirochetes continue to multiple within the
body at a slow rate. They may gradually invade cardiovascular
system, the bones, the liver, and nervous system
■Eventually, decades after infection, syphilis may begin to do serious
damage. This is tertiary syphilis.
●Occurs in about 15% of untreated individuals.
●Large ulcers may appear on skin or internal organs, may attack
heart, the central nervous system, or skeleton.
○Syphilis is greatly reduced now to antibiotics
Document Summary
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