Std: Stupid to Do

S.T.D., what does it mean?   It stands for Sexually Transmitted Disease.   STDs used to be called venereal diseases.   Sexually transmitted diseases have been around for a long time.   There were references to gonorrhea in the Old Testament and descriptions of syphilis at the time of Columbus.   Sexually transmitted diseases cross all boundaries.   They are not restricted to people of one sexual orientation, race, cultural group or socioeconomic class.   When most people think about infectious diseases, they think about their last cold or flu that had been going around at school or work.   Reports come from health departments all over the country.   Government workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention count all the cases of each disease.   When you look at the most frequently reported infectious diseases in the United States, 87 percent are sexually transmitted diseases.   There are 12 million new cases each year.   STDs are clearly a big problem in today’s society.   Most sexually transmitted diseases are treatable; however many become resistant to antibiotics.   Some STDs are not curable.   The more familiar STD\'s are gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes, Chlamydial trachomatis infections, and HIV/AIDs.

One of the most frequently encountered communicable diseases in the U.S. is called the \"clap\", \"drip\", \"dose\", \"strain\", \"gleet\", \"jack\", or gonorrhea.   It is caused by the bacterium Neisseria Gonorrhoeae, which is common all over the world today and can only thrive in human beings.   There is no way to acquire immunity to this disease.   This disease is transmitted by the way of direct contact with the secretions of mucous membranes such as those of the urethra, cervix, vagina, anus, eyes and throat.

            The contact involved in transmitting gonorrhea is almost always sexual in nature.   It is possible that contaminated fingers can transfer infection from one region of the body to another; however this is highly unlikely because...