Venereal Diseases, Brief Overview
Venereal diseases, or sexually-transmitted diseases (STD) as
they are better known today, are a series of diseases which are
transmitted through sexual contact between persons, most
commonly through vaginal, oral or anal sex. Another term used by
experts is "sexually transmitted infections", but this term is
less common.
Venereal diseases are an old companion and concern of mankind.
As the British Empire spread throughout the world, British
travelers, sailors and soldiers started bringing all sorts of
diseases back to England. This is why the first VD clinic opened
on January 31, 1747, at the London Dock Hospital. The biggest
threats in those times were the syphilis and gonorr hea venereal
diseases and the main purpose of the clinic was to study these
diseases. They were also considered incurable at the time and
doctors focused mostly on treating the symptoms.
The situation changed after the discovery of antibiotics, which
made a lot of the old venereal diseases curable. Public health
authorities have also launched campaigns of eradication against
these diseases, which led to a decline in the number of cases.
However, the '80s meant the advent of AIDS and genital herpes,
which cannot be cured by modern medicine.
The most common Venereal diseases are Syphilis, Chancroid,
Chlamydia Infection, Gonorrhea, Herpes, AIDS, Candidiasis and
LGV. Sexual contact is also a means of spreading parasites such
as pubic lice and scabies.
The easiest way of protecting yourself from venereal diseases is
to use condoms during sex. Although this will not help you
against pubic lice, it would at least prevent the spread of
infections and spare you the "pleasure" of visiting the STD
ward. More so since, despite all efforts, AIDS still means
death.