This is possible, but not very common. If your partner's mouth is infected with an STI, then he or she may be able to pass that infection to your mouth during a kiss. Fever blisters and cold sores can be passed through a kiss if your partner is infected. Blood-borne infections like HIV or Hepatitis B or C can only be passed through kissing if there is an exchange of infected blood. If your partner has an infection in his or her genital area, then kissing on the mouth will not transmit the infection. However kissing the infected area may lead to transmission of the infection.

Yes. During oral sex, there is skin-to-skin contact and there can be bodily fluid exchange. Therefore, it is important to use barrier protection, like un-lubricated condoms or latex dental dams to protect yourself during oral sex.

Yes. Many STIs can take weeks, months or years before symptoms show. Some people never develop symptoms for some STIs. STIs can still be passed to someone else even when a person is not experiencing symptoms.

This is not very likely. Most STIs are only transmitted during sexual contact, either by skin-to-skin contact or through bodily fluids exchanged between partners. Garapata, or pubic lice, may be transmitted through sexual contact, sleeping in infected bedding, sharing infected clothing and possibly through sitting on an infested toilet seat. However, lice cannot survive away from the human body for longer than 24 hours. So contracting pubic lice from a toilet seat is possible, but it's unlikely.

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One can practice any of the following = Abstinence is the best formula but if not possible, be faithful to HIV free/equally faithful sex  partner, or use condom protection for male to male for homesexual practice or female condom for heterosexual activity, or practice non-penetrative sex.

There are many different tests for each of the different STIs. There is not one test that will screen for all STIs. Some STIs are hard to test for if you do not have any symptoms. Some STIs can be tested through simple blood work or a urine test; some can only be tested for through culturing body fluid from the penis, vagina or open sore on the body. When you go in for testing, it is important to ask your health care provider which tests will be done and which will not. Sometimes, weeks or months need to pass to give your body enough time to develop antibodies that will show up in a test, indicating you have a particular STI.

The simple answer is that you may not know your partner is infected unless he or she tells you. Remember, because some STIs don't show any symptoms, your partner may not even know if he or she is infected.

The virus is passed on to another person through infected blood like blood stained needles/medical instrumentations, sexual contacts between casual acquaintances or with strangers/multiple partners, or partners of infected OFW, sharing of needles among drug users or accidental needle pricking or trauma among health professionals. HIV infected individuals can infect unsuspecting contacts because of their normal looking physique. Spread of the disease happens before identification of the disease is the most treacherous of all possibilities.

Name of Office: JRRMMC

The latest world data that we have is in 2008 at 33.4 million, but only God knows of our present status. In the Philippines, our case detection of HIV positives  were 2-3x for 2010 compared to 2008 figures. Detections are increasing among men having sex with men, blood samples and spouses of OFWs. Total reported cases in the PH from 1984-2010 is 5,625 and AIDS among these is 852.

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JRRMMC

Appearance of AIDS varies among individual patients and may range theoretically between 5-10 years to as long as 15 years or more. Patients on antiretroviral therapy may or even arrest the progression of the disease to frank AIDS.   

Wrong. One out of every four teenagers and young adults will get an STI, even though many think they know how to protect themselves. There are other STIs out there besides HIV, and they are on the rise among young people. They include chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes and human papillomavirus (HPV), which cause genital warts and abnormal Pap smears.

Name of Office: JRRMMC

There is none at the moment but researches are on-going towards finding a cure. ARTs makes infected individuals (HIV patients) productive and AIDs free because the viral progression in the body is slowed to near halt.

STIs can cause physical symptoms like bumps or sores on the skin, itchy discharge, pain or burning during urination, fever, or symptoms like the flu. But all of these symptoms can be caused by other illnesses that are not sexually transmitted. Some STIs do not cause any symptoms at all. So, you can see how difficult it would be to diagnose a STI just based on symptoms you may be experiencing.

If you have symptoms as described above you should immediately seek medical help. Your health care provider is the best choice as he or she knows you best. If you do not have a health care provider, the school physician or nurse can advise you on whether the symptoms are something to worry about or not, and where you can get help. The local community clinics would also be able to help you.

t’s a viral infection that attacks and slowly destroys the immune system of the infected person that leads to “immune deficiency”. It is progressive and can lead to lack of body defense to all kinds of infection including those that don’t normally infect man  and can also lead to cancer susceptibility.

If you choose to have sex, latex condoms give you good protection because they are barriers - something that keeps you away from your partner's sexual fluids. Other birth control methods only protect you from unwanted pregnancy. Using a condom is NOT 100% protection against pregnancy or STIs--only abstinence is--but a condom offers the best protection from STIs and pretty good protection from pregnancy if you do have sex. The best protection is to use birth control pills or other reliable form of birth control to prevent pregnancy AND a new latex condom with each sexual encounter to protect against STIs.

Name of Office: JRRMMC

Tuberculosis - it becomes aggressive among HIV/AIDS patients because of poor immune response of these patients. Since TB is very common in the Philippines  and majority of Filipinos have/ have had  primary or secondary TB, treated, with scar or re-exposed, this infection is the most life threatening for it can infect practically all organs of the body, the skin and brain included.

Name of Office: JRRMMC

There should be medical counseling/recounselling on how to protect  themselves from contracting the disease. There should also be psychosocial support  for the patient to continue on as being productive/ responsible citizen, to ART adherence to prevent progression of the disease and thus prevent stigma. Inculcate that there is still life after HIV infection.     

All medical care that you receive should be confidential. This means that the information you discuss with your health care providers must stay in your files at the clinic and not be released to anyone without your permission. All testing and results are handled as confidential matters.

Anonymous testing is when your name is not associated with the test or the results in any way. You may be given a number or code word to identify yourself during testing and when receiving results. Speak to you health care provider about the testing process used.

Your local health department, community clinic, private doctor or family planning clinics are all good resources to check into for STI testing.