STD Awareness: Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Pregnancy

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Anna

Every month since January 2011, we’ve been sharing installments of our STD Awareness series, and each month, we’ve encouraged you to protect yourself from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) by using dental dams and condoms. But what if you’re trying to get pregnant? In that case, you’re probably not using condoms! However, it is very important that partners know their STD status — being screened and treated for STDs prior to pregnancy is a good idea for your health, and can protect your future baby.

If you and a partner are trying to get pregnant, you might consider being screened for STDs together.

When present during pregnancy, certain STDs can have negative health effects for you or your future baby (including preterm labor, stillbirth, low birth weight, pneumonia, certain infections, blindness, and liver disease), especially if they are not cured or treated in time. Receiving prenatal care can help prevent these problems, so it is important to be screened and treated for STDs prior to or early in your pregnancy.

During pregnancy, the immune system undergoes changes, which are probably necessary to ensure that the body doesn’t reject the fetus — normally, the immune system recognizes non-self cells as potential pathogens and attacks. These immune system changes might make a pregnant person more susceptible to disease. Latent viral infections, like genital warts or herpes, might come out of dormancy. Additionally, anatomical changes lead to a larger exposed area of the cervix, which is potentially more vulnerable to initial infections. Continue reading →

Over 90 Percent of What Planned Parenthood Does, Part 6: Vaccinations

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Anna

Welcome to the latest installment of “Over 90 Percent of What Planned Parenthood Does,” a series on Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona’s blog that highlights Planned Parenthood’s diverse array of services — the ones Jon Kyl doesn’t know about.

You know what they say: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Public health experts agree that vaccines are one of the most important advancements in medicine, and are incredibly safe and effective in preventing infectious disease. Many infectious diseases that used to lay waste to their victims are now unknown to many of us in the developed world — polio, whooping cough, measles, and rabies struck fear in the hearts of our forebears, but most young people today barely know what they are (although low rates of vaccination can still lead to outbreaks, such as 2008’s measles outbreak in Tucson). Smallpox, once a terrifying scourge, has been wiped off the planet thanks to vaccination campaigns.

We offer vaccinations against hepatitis A and B, as well as HPV.

Vaccines work by introducing antigens to your immune system. An antigen is a substance, such as a protein on the surface of a virus, that the immune system can recognize as dangerous. It is then able to attack the pathogen and, often, create a “memory” of that pathogen so it can attack it in the event of reinfection. The antigens in vaccines are very safe, and can be derived from many sources, such as inactivated (dead) or attenuated (weakened) pathogens, or fragments of pathogens. Some vaccines, such as those protecting against human papillomavirus and hepatitis B, are made with laboratory-synthesized fragments of the surface proteins of viruses, which are sufficient to produce immune response despite being completely noninfectious.

Planned Parenthood Arizona offers vaccinations against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and human papillomavirus (HPV). All three of these viruses can be transmitted sexually, and hepatitis B and HPV can cause cancer if the infections become chronic. The hepatitis vaccines have led to all-time lows in rates of hepatitis A and hepatitis B; the HPV vaccine is still new, but emerging evidence suggests a possible decrease in HPV rates as herd immunity grows. Vaccination doesn’t just benefit you and your partner(s) — it benefits society as a whole. Continue reading →

Meet Our Candidates: Emily Verdugo for State Representative, LD 8

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Ron

The Arizona primary election will be held on August 28, 2012. With so many recent legislative challenges to reproductive health care access, both nationally and statewide, the importance of this election year can’t be overstated. To help voters, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed candidates who have shown strong commitment to reproductive health and freedom. Along with those endorsements, we are running a series called “Meet Our Candidates,” spotlighting each Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona-endorsed candidate. To vote in the primaries, you must register to vote by July 30 — and can even register online. Make your voice heard in 2012!

Emily Verdugo is a candidate running for a seat in the Arizona House of Representatives, where she hopes to represent Legislative District 8 in the Pinal County area. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona is not endorsing any other state representative candidates in the LD 8 primary. Though voters have the option of selecting two candidates, doing so may disadvantage Verdugo’s chances in her tight race. We recommend a single-shot* vote for Emily Verdugo in the House race.

“No one knows what is best for you and your family but you!”

What follows is an exclusive interview with Verdugo, who shared her views about access to reproductive health care and comprehensive sex education in Arizona. This interview took place on July 12, 2012.

Tell us a little about your background.

I am a native Arizonan, grew up in small, rural mining communities to Mexican parents. I moved to Pinal County when I was a teenager and have made my home here. I attended Arizona State University, where I earned concurrent degrees in history and political science. I also attended Northern Arizona University, where I completed my graduate studies in public management. I am a single mother of two young sons, and I work for a nonprofit grantee of the Workforce Investment Act program that provides job and skills training to farm workers. I am committed to ensuring that education and health care are at the forefront of my large rural district, and this includes accessible reproductive health and services. Continue reading →

Meet Our Candidates: Dustin Cox for State Representative, LD 9

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Malinda B.

Dustin Cox is one of three candidates running in the primary for the new Legislative District 9. This district covers midtown Tucson, the foothills area from I-10 to Sabino Canyon, and as far north as southern parts of Oro Valley in the Oracle Road corridor. With all the redistricting that’s taken place this year, you might not even know what legislative district you’re in — but you can click here to find out!

“No government or legislature should be allowed to dictate health care decisions that should be made by individuals in consultation with their doctors.”

Cox has received much recognition and several awards for his service to the community. He was a Flinn-Brown Fellow in the inaugural class of the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership. In 2008 he was one of the youngest ever recipients of the Hon Kachina Volunteer Award for a lifetime of volunteer service and improving the health of the Arizona community. He has been a nominee for the Champion for Children and Families Award, and named one of Tucson’s “Top 40 Under 40” community and business leaders. What follows is an exclusive interview conducted with Cox in July 2012.

Tell us a little about your background.

Five generations of my family have called Arizona home. I think that has fostered in me a great love for my community here. It is a big part of what drives my desire to improve this state and fight the extreme measures coming out of our state legislature. It pains me to think that Arizona could be worse off for the next five generations of my family who will call this place home, and that is why I feel I must stand up and say, “Enough.” Continue reading →

Meet Our Candidates: Mohur Sidhwa for State Representative, LD 9

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Matt

The Arizona primary election will be held on August 28, 2012. With so many recent legislative challenges to reproductive health care access, both nationally and statewide, the importance of this election year can’t be overstated. To help voters, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed candidates who have shown strong commitment to reproductive health and freedom. Along with those endorsements, we are launching a series called “Meet Our Candidates,” spotlighting each Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona-endorsed candidate. To vote in the primaries, you must register to vote by July 30 — and can even register online. Make your voice heard in 2012!

This installment of the “Meet Our Candidates” series spotlights Mohur Sidhwa, a candidate for the Arizona House of Representatives in Legislative District 9. A Tucson resident for 31 years, Sidhwa first came to Arizona to pursue a graduate degree in anthropology from the University of Arizona. Since then, she has worked for numerous campaigns, both to elect candidates and to defeat propositions she considered “destructive.” The latter includes the campaigns against Proposition 107 in 2006 and Proposition 102 in 2008, which were introduced to curtail the rights of same-sex couples. Sidhwa has served as a chair for her legislative district and was recognized in 2007 as an outstanding district chair.

“Those untrained in the sciences or…without a knowledge of the medical field should not be making medical decisions, much less passing laws on these issues.”

As a candidate for state representative, Sidhwa believes freedom of personal choices, such as family planning and women’s health care, is imperative for Arizona. What follows is an exclusive interview with Sidhwa, who shared her views about reproductive health care access and freedoms with us on July 3, 2012.

What women’s health care issues do you think should be addressed in the legislature?

The legislature should reverse the damage on women’s health concerns in the previous sessions. Then they need to stay out of women’s personal lives and medical options and their reproductive strategies. These are a matter of health, and literally their lives are at stake. Continue reading →

STD Awareness: 10 Sexually Transmitted Diseases You Probably Don’t Know About

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Anna

Giardia lamblia, a microbe that can be transmitted sexually. Image: NIH

Gonorrhea and chlamydia go back to antiquity. Syphilis took hold in Europe during the late 15th century. Herpes wasn’t on most people’s radars until the early 1980s, and human papillomavirus (HPV) was relegated to relative obscurity in the popular imagination until the HPV vaccines made their debuts less than a decade ago.

Have you heard of CMV, chancroid, or donovanosis?

But there are still a handful of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) that you might not know about. These include incredibly common infections, as well as those caused by pathogens you might have heard of but probably don’t associate with sexual transmission. They also include infections that are very rare here in Arizona but are much more common in other parts of the world. They all deserve a closer look.

10 Trichomoniasis: What is the most common curable STD? You might guess that it’s chlamydia or gonorrhea, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it’s trichomoniasis (also known as trich, pronounced “trick”). This infection is caused by Trichomonas vaginalis, a single-celled parasite that is actually pretty cute as far as microbes go. What’s not so cute is its propensity to attach to your cells and degrade their surfaces, which on a large scale can produce unpleasant symptoms. Continue reading →

STD Awareness: HPV in Males

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Anna

Human papillomavirus, or HPV, can affect both males and females.

Human papillomavirus, or HPV, affects people of all genders.

Whether it’s worries over Gardasil making girls go wild, or it’s somber discussion about cervical cancer, discourse about human papillomavirus (HPV) centers around its impact on females. But who are most of these females getting HPV from? For the most part, they’re getting it from male partners. And despite the fact that cervical cancer is the most common cancer associated with HPV, it is not the only one. A high-risk strain of HPV can lead to cancers of the penis, anus, mouth, and throat; additionally, there are strains of HPV that cause genital warts, which affect males and females equally. So why don’t males figure very prominently in discussions of HPV and the preventive vaccine, Gardasil?

Mouth, throat, penile, and anal cancers can all be caused by HPV.

Some people think that if they remain abstinent until marriage, they will be able to avoid sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) – but not very many people can say with certainty that their spouses have never had any other sexual partners. Eva Perón, the second wife of Argentine president Juan Perón and a leader in her own right, was made famous here by the musical Evita. According to physician and writer Shobha S. Krishnan, she died in 1952 of cervical cancer – the same fate that befell her husband’s first wife. Many believe that Juan Perón was the source of both women’s ultimately fatal HPV infections.

While one’s own sexual behavior can increase risk for acquiring an STD, it is not the only factor – the sexual history of one’s partner also plays an important role. HPV is especially tricky because there is currently no FDA-approved test for HPV in males – despite the fact that more than half of sexually active males are estimated to have been infected with HPV at some point in their lives. And, because it is so often asymptomatic, a male can carry this virus without knowing it, unwittingly infecting his partners. Continue reading →

STD Awareness: Viral Hepatitis

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Anna

Hepatitis A virus particles are pictured in this electron micrograph. Image: Betty Partin, CDC

Hepatitis isn’t commonly thought of as a sexually transmitted disease (STD) — for most people, hepatitis conjures images of contaminated food or unsanitary restaurants. But hepatitis should be on the radar of anyone who is sexually active. There are several different viruses that cause hepatitis, and some can be sexually transmitted, including hepatitis A (HAV), hepatitis B (HBV), and, to a lesser extent, hepatitis C (HCV).

While HBV is most efficiently transmitted through blood, it can also easily hitch rides from person to person via sexual fluids. However, we covered HBV in depth last year in observance of World Hepatitis Day. As May is Hepatitis Awareness Month, we’ll turn the spotlight on HAV and HCV for this month’s installment of our STD Awareness series.

Hepatitis A (HAV)

HAV spreads through fecal-oral contact and is more widespread in parts of the world with poor sanitation. It is relatively rare in the United States, although in 2003 there was a hepatitis A outbreak outside of Pittsburgh — the largest in the United States — that was traced to improperly washed raw scallions. All told, there were 650 confirmed illnesses and four deaths. HAV is very resilient and can survive outside a host for long periods of time – other foodstuffs it can contaminate include filter-feeding shellfish, which can concentrate HAV from contaminated seawater in their tissues. When these shellfish are undercooked, they can pack quite a punch as billions of virus particles are released into the unsuspecting diner’s body.

Vaccination against hepatitis A confers lifelong immunity while sparing you from illness caused by a natural infection.

Unfortunately, no matter how well you clean your fresh produce or how long you cook shellfish, certain sexual activities can increase your risk of acquiring HAV. As with intestinal parasites, which can be present in minuscule amounts of fecal matter, so too can virus particles be present in microscopic bits of feces. Oral contact with the anus (“rimming” or anilingus) is the riskiest activity in terms of HAV transmission — oral-genital contact can also do the trick, as can manual contact between the anus and the mouth. While hepatitis A outbreaks have been reported among MSM – men who have sex with men – populations, oral-anal contact is associated with increased risk for HAV infection regardless of sexual orientation. To reduce your risk of sexual HAV transmission, use latex condoms or dental dams during oral activities. HAV can also be transmitted via blood, and hepatitis A outbreaks have been reported among IV drug users. Continue reading →

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