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How to Avoid the
NEW
SEXUAL DISEASES
by
Donald D. Schroeder
Suddenly a new bost of sexually transmissible diseases are surpassing
previous scourges of VD. Shockingly they threaten
even infants and children with pain, steri lity and untimely death!
W
HY HAVE SO
many
been ignorant of-–
or blinded their
minds to-the greatest com–
municable disease problem of
our age?
Venereal diseases take their
name from the word
Venus ,
the
ancient Lat in goddess of !ove
and beauty. But there is nothing
lovely or beautiful about these
diseases.
Health officials may call for
more aggrcssive educational pro–
grams to increase public awareness
of these crippling diseases in hopes
of stemming their accele rating
spread. But
The Plain Truth
makes
clear the
only
solution to stop these
epidemics!
Why New Diseases
A long and growing list of sexually
transmissible pathogens- many
unknown a decade ago-has been
recognized only recently. Sorne of
the newly recognized diseases now
rival or surpass the unconquered
plagues of syphilis and gonorrhea,
especially among teenagers and
young adults.
It
is important to make clarifica–
tions about sorne of these patho–
gens to avoid unmerited self–
recrimination or embarrassment.
The term venereal disease is now
dropping out of usage among
August 1982
health officials.
It
is being rcplaced
by a more encompassing term–
sex ually transmitted or sexually
transmissible disease (STO). Sex–
ually
transmissible
disease is the
most accurate term.
STO describes the true picture of
the venereal disease problem as it
includes not only diseases spread
almost exclusively by sexual contact
but other diseases capable of being
spread by sexual contact and by non–
sexual or unhygienic means.
Sorne cases of these diseases are
not related to promiscuity, marital
infidelity or other sexual indiscre–
tions. Sorne STOs can develop
within faithful marriages or with
no
sexual contact at al!. (Jn a few
rare cases, even syphilis, gonorrhea
and herpes, type 2, can be picked
up by nonsexual contact.)
Yet, while certain cases of STOs
have nothing to do with immoral
behavior, most of the STO epidemic
is caused by promiscuous, free–
wheeling and permissive sexual con–
duct. Health authorities estímate
bctween 20 and 30 percent of highly
sexually active persons have one or
more of these diseases.
Shocking Ste rilizer
Researchers have been startled to
discover that there may be a
greater infectious agent causing
genital infections and sterility than
gonorrhea.
The recently pinpointed patho-
gen is
chlamydia trachomatis.
Sorne health authorities estímate
chlamydia (pronounced "kla-mid–
ee-uh") is already two or three
times more prevalent in human
populations than gonorrhea.
Befare its identification it was
treated with general antibiotics as a
relatively harmless unspecified
nongonococcal infectious agent of
the urethra or of the vagina. But far
from being relatively harmless,
chlamydia is now known to be one
of the greatest causes of pelvic
inflammation and infertility in
adults, and blindness and pneumo–
nia in infant children.
The symptoms of chlamydia are
similar to gonorrhea. The bacteri–
um duplicates itself within the cells
of the mouth, intestine, lungs and
genital region until the growing
colony destroys the infected cells
and moves on, often leaving scar
tissue.
1n the U nited S tates and other
developed nations, chlamydia is
thought to be mostly transmitted
by sexual contact. However, in
developing nations, chlamydia is
also commonly transmitted by
unhygienic contact or unhygienic
practices, especially the improper
disposal of human wastes. In these
nations, the pathogen is responsible
for producing epidemics of tracho–
ma and blindness.
Males with venereal symptoms
of ch lamydial infection suffer
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