HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is the virus that causes AIDS. This virus is passed from one person to another through blood-to-blood and sexual contact. In addition, infected pregnant women can pass HIV to their baby during pregnancy or delivery, as well as through breast-feeding. People with HIV have what is called HIV infection. Most of these people will develop AIDS as a result of their HIV infection.

These body fluids have been proven to spread HIV:

• blood
• semen
• vaginal fluid
• breast milk
• other body fluids containing blood

These are additional body fluids that may transmit the virus that health care workers may come into contact with:
cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the brain and the spinal cord synovial fluid surrounding bone joints amniotic fluid surrounding a fetus

AIDS Stands for Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome:

• Acquired means you get it from someone else.
• Immuno- Deficiency means your body cannot defend itself against certain illnesses.
• Syndrome means a collection of symptoms and signs that a doctor might recognise as a disease.

AIDS is diagnosed in an HIV person with at least one AIDS related condition such as:

• Pneumocystitis Carinii Pneumonia (PCP)
• A skin cancer called Kaposi's Sarcoma (KS)
• Fungal Infections
• Dementia

AIDS is caused by Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV). If you have the virus you are said to be HIV positive.

• You may be HIV positive and not know it
• Your sex or drug partner may be HIV positive and not know it
• You may look and feel healthy
• Once the virus is in your body you are infected for the rest of your life and may infect others

The three main ways HIV is transmitted are:

• through having sex (anal, vaginal, or oral) with someone infected with HIV.
• through sharing needles and syringes with someone who has HIV.
• through exposure (in the case of infants) to HIV before or during birth, or through breast feeding.

HIV is also found in tears, saliva, urine and sweat, but not in sufficient concentration-i.e they have not been shown to spread HIV.

HIV is not casually transmitted, so kissing on the cheek is very safe. Even if the other person has the virus, your unbroken skin is a good barrier. No one has become infected from such ordinary social contact as dry kisses, hugs, and handshakes.

Because of the theoretical potential for contact with blood during "French" or open-mouthed kissing, CDC recommends against engaging in this activity with an infected person. However, no case of AIDS reported to CDC can be attributed to transmission through any kind of kissing.

No. HIV is not transmitted by day-to-day contact in the workplace, schools, or social settings. HIV is not transmitted through shaking hands, hugging, or a casual kiss. You cannot become infected from a toilet seat, a drinking fountain, a door knob, dishes, drinking glasses, food, or pets.

A small number of cases of transmission have been reported in which a person became infected with HIV as a result of contact with blood or other body secretions from an HIV-infected person in the household. Although contact with blood and other body substances can occur in households, transmission of HIV is rare in this setting. However, persons infected with HIV and persons providing home care for those who are HIV-infected should be fully educated and trained regarding appropriate infection-control techniques.

HIV is not an airborne or food-borne virus, and it does not live long outside the body. HIV can be found in the blood, semen, or vaginal fluid of an infected person.

The three main ways HIV is transmitted are:
• through having sex (anal, vaginal, or oral) with someone infected with HIV.
• through sharing needles and syringes with someone who has HIV.
• through exposure (in the case of infants) to HIV before or during birth, or through breast feeding.

No you cannot. See question 5

The only way to determine for sure whether you are infected is to be tested for HIV infection. You cannot rely on symptoms to know whether or not you are infected with HIV. Many people who are infected with HIV do not have any symptoms at all for many years.

Contact your doctor or other health professional who can organise one for you. Alternatively You can contact the S.T.D Clinic in the Victoria Hospital on Anglesea Sreet in Cork City and they can arrange one for you in total confidence.

The HIV antibody test looks for antibodies to the virus in a person's blood. For most people these antibodies take 3 months to develop, with 98% having developed antibodies within six months of infection.

Getting tested before the 3 month period is up may result in an unclear test result, as an infected person may not have developed antibodies to HIV yet. So it is best to wait for at least three months after the last time you were at risk before taking the test. Some test centres may recommend testing again at 6 months, just to be extra sure.

It is also important that you are not at risk of further exposures to HIV during this time period. Most importantly you should continue to practice safe sex and not share needles.

The symptoms of initial HIV infection are not very specific. If a person is infected, a few weeks after infection some people experience a flu-like illness. Only a fifth of people experience symptoms which are serious enough to require a doctor's attention.

Several years after infection a person may experience symptoms of particular illnesses and cancers. These are the result of the infected person's immune system being damaged by HIV to the point where it is no longer able to fight off these opportunistic infections.

In each case, HIV infection is difficult to diagnose with out having taken an HIV antibody test first.

Herpes is an infection caused by two different but closely related viruses — herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). Both are very easy to catch. Both have similar symptoms. And both can occur on different parts of the body. When the infection is on the mouth, it is called oral herpes. When it is on or near the sex organs it is called genital herpes.

Symptoms:

Very often there are none. The most common symptom is a cluster of blistery sores — usually on the vagina, vulva, cervix, penis, or anus. Symptoms may last several weeks, go away, and then return — weeks, months, or years later.Touching, kissing, and sexual contact, including vaginal, anal, and oral intercourse spread herpes. It can be passed from one partner to another, or from one part of the body to another. There may be some early warning signs before an outbreak occurs — tingling, burning, and itching where sores were before. The warning signs may start a few hours or a day before the sores flare up. You should stop having sexual contact and consult your doctor if you feel one of these warning signs.

Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the gonococcus. According to the American Social Health Association, approximately 1.1 million American men and women are estimated to be infected with gonorrhea each year. The course of infection, its severity, and how easily it is recognized are different for women and men.

Although you're more likely to be symptomatic when infected with gonorrhea, as compared to other STDs such as chlamydia, one of the most common symptoms of this and other STDs is no symptom at all. If someone does experience signs of gonorrhea, which are similar to chlamydia symptoms, they often show up two to six days after exposure or infection.

In men, there is usually a yellowish discharge from the penis. Urination could also be painful, or burn, and feeling a need to pee may be more frequent. Untreated, gonorrhea can spread from the urethra to infect the prostate gland, seminal vesicles, Cowper's glands, and the epididymis, which, if inflamed and scarred, can lead to sterility.

In women, the urethra or cervix are affected, and sometimes the infection is so mild that it goes unnoticed, particularly with inflammation of the cervix. Other symptoms include a cloudy vaginal discharge, abnormal menstruation, painful urination, and lower abdominal discomfort. If women don't detect any symptoms and the infection is left untreated, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), resulting in ectopic pregnancy, pelvic abscesses, and infertility.

Gonorrhea can be transmitted through oral and anal sex as well. With infection via oral sex, symptoms include sore throat, tonsillitis, or no symptoms at all. When transmitted by anal sex, there can be inflammation of the rectum or anus, itchiness, pus-like or bloody discharge, feeling the need to have a bowel movement often, or no noticeable signs whatsoever.

To diagnose this disease, health care providers use a smear (discharge put on a slide that's looked at under a microscope) or, more commonly, grow a culture. DNA probes can also be used to make a diagnosis more quickly. Antibiotics are used for treatment, although certain strains of gonorrhea are resistant to certain types of antibiotics, such as penicillin, which would require the use of new antibiotics or a particular drug combo to effectively combat these resistant strains. Since people usually are infected with both gonorrhea and chlamydia, you and your partner(s) need to be treated for both diseases at the same time. Your health care provider will help determine what's best for you.

These lice are wingless insects with six legs and a square body. They look like sea crabs, which is why they are often referred to as “the crabs.” The lice cling to pubic hair and feed on blood. The female of the species lays about 50 eggs, called nits, and attaches them to the base of a hair strand. The average life-span is 25 to 30 days.

There has been a resurgence of pubic lice that parallels increasing rates of other sexually transmitted diseases. You are more likely to get pubic lice if you or your partner have multiple or casual sexual partners. It's easier to get lice than any other STD. From just one sexual encounter with an infested person, you have a 95 percent chance of picking them up. Since the lice can live away from their host for 24 to 48 hours, there are other possible modes of transmission such as sheets and towels (but not toilet seats).

You will know if you have contracted pubic lice because you can see them. You may also see little bluish marks in the pubic area or thighs where they've bitten you. The lice often cause itching, which is thought to be from an allergic reaction to their bites. Although crabs are found most often in the pubic area, they can be found on any other hairy part of the body, such as the chest, armpits, beard, and eyelashes. They normally leave the hair on the head to their cousins, head lice.

You can obtain over the counter preparations from the chemist to treat this or alternatively see your doctor.

p> Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by a spirochete bacterium. Syphilis is transmitted via intimate physical contact with infected parts of the body such as the sex organs, mouth, and rectum. Syphilis can be passed to subsequent sex partners during the first two years after the disease is contracted. After two years, the disease is unlikely to be transmissible to sex partners but can be passed from a woman to her unborn child.

Symptoms
The first sign of syphilis infection, the primary stage, is usually a small painless sore at the site where the spirochete entered the body. This sore, called a chancre, appears two to six weeks after exposure and disappears spontaneously. Early symptoms may be either absent or so slight that they may go unnoticed. Some people learn they are infected with syphilis through a blood test.

The secondary stage of syphilis may also go unnoticed by the infected person. Secondary symptoms appear two to six months after exposure to the disease and, like primary symptoms, will disappear without medical treatment. These symptoms include a body rash (characteristically on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet), sores in the mouth, sore throat, falling or patchy hair, fever and swollen lymph nodes.

In the latent stage, patients are without clinical signs of infection. Signs of late or final stages of syphilis appear four to six years after initial contact. Heart disease, blindness, deafness, skin lesions, paralysis and central nervous system degeneration may develop.

Diagnosis of syphilis is difficult because the disease can affect various parts of the body, and because the symptoms are or similar to many other diseases. Anyone who develops a sore on the sexual organs or around the anus should seek immediate medical attention since diagnosis in primary stage is most accurate. Microscopic examination of fluid from the sore can detect the presence of spirochete organisms. Blood tests are also used to detect the disease when other symptoms are absent or questionable.

Treatment
Antibiotics are used to treat syphilis. Proper treatment in the early stages can completely cure the disease. Treatment during the advanced stages will stop progress of the disease but cannot repair damage already done.

Prevention
Avoid intimate contact with anyone who has a sexually transmissible disease. Latex condoms can be used for more complete protection against non-genital syphilis sores.

Hepatitis B is a serious viral disease that attacks the liver. Approximately 2-10% of adults and 25-80% of children under the age of 5 will not be able to clear the virus in six months and are considered to be chronically infected.

Hepatitis B is often sexually transmitted. The virus is 100 times more infectious than AIDS and is found in blood, semen and vaginal fluids. Sexual partners of an infected person should practice safe sex and be vaccinated for hepatitis B. (Those who have recovered from HBV are immune.)

It is perfectly safe to visit someone with hepatitis - the virus is not transmitted through casual contact. It is OK to shake hands, hug or kiss someone who is infected with viral hepatitis.

Transmission of Hepatitis B and C involves contact with infected blood and body fluids.

Hepatitis C causes inflammation of the liver, with an estimated 80% of those infected developing chronic hepatitis. Many can develop cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), and some may also develop liver cancer.

Transmission of Hepatitis B and C involves contact with infected blood and body fluids. It is often impossible to trace the source of an individual's hepatitis infection. Hepatitis C is not easily transmitted through sexual contact, however, researchers are uncertain how often transmission occurs. Hepatitis A may be spread through anal/oral contact during sex. Vaccines are available for Hepatitis A and B, but not C.