Juventud Rebelde
January 20, 2007
Discordant couples: yes or no?
That certain STIs like the Human Papilloma and Herpes Simplex cast a lifelong
shadow over people's sexual relations is by no means a reason to give up sex.
Mileyda Menéndez and Mariela Rodríguez /
mileyda@jrebelde.cip.cu
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann
ORIGINAL:
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2007-01-20/parejas-discordantes-si-o-no/
After four great years together, Mario and Marcela are thinking of having a
child. But even if they both have a job and the proper conditions to make room
for a new family member, they know their decision entails an important step: no
more condoms, at least during the fertile days of her ovulatory cycle.
They're both afraid because Marcela might get not only pregnant, but also
infected with the HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) that Mario was diagnosed as having
more than six years ago, when he was barely out of his teenage years.
It's been a year and a half since the last wart or condiloma appeared and made
him rush to see a doctor. Knowing, however, that being a carrier of such an STD
is like walking a tightrope, he wants to make sure he won't pass it on to her
and affect the baby in the process.
To this end they wrote to Sexo Sentido for guidance about the tests they both
must undergo.
Another letter came from a homosexual young man worried about the «sores» he's
seen now and then around his partner's anus or genitals that eventually
disappear «by themselves». What he means is vesicles caused by the Herpes
Simplex virus he caught once, but makes little of it because he says it happened
a long time ago.
As a rule they practice safe sex, but our reader is concerned about not being
able to prevent his own genitalia from rubbing against his partner's lesions
during foreplay, and wants to know how effective a condom is in that case.
What these two stories have in common is a sexually transmitted skin disease.
The difference is that the first couple has no grounds for alarm as long as they
keep their situation on a tight leash, whereas the second reader is running a
big risk of infection as a result of his partner's lack of knowledge or
responsibility.
ALL IS NOT YET LOST
When the carrier of an incurable STID and a healthy person go on a steady
relationship, the couple is usually said to be discordant, a condition equally
applicable to those who live with HIV/AIDS.
Being in that situation is not a reason to abandon your sexuality, but it's
imperative to abide by a number of restrictions to protect those who share with
you their life and pleasure and spare yourselves the danger of getting other
STDs and thus make the same mistake twice.
Both HPV and Herpes Simplex are contracted through direct contact of a healthy
person's genitalia with an infected person's lesions, usually located in the
vagina or penis, around the anus, or even on the mouth.
Since it's a virus, a definitive cure with drugs or vaccines is yet to be found.
Any of its strains (two for Herpes Simplex and over 30 for HPV) can be latent in
our body without appearing again in a long time, or else showing up frequently
as invisible lesions which can only be detected by some clinical trials
available to everyone, including the smear test that women regularly take.
Nevertheless, the fact that medical science is unable to control these intruders
doesn't make them invulnerable: they are known to be spontaneously killed by
some individuals' own immune system, although how it happens or why they strike
a person so hard and yet passes another by remains uncertain.
Accordingly, the word incurable means eternal no more than it forces the
infected into a permanent «fasting» on sex. It suffices to take the necessary
precautions when things look normal and refrain from it if there are symptoms,
slight as they may be.
In this case specialized help must be sought at once to cauterize, that is,
burn, the warts or vesicle, a sure and quicker way to regain sexual readiness,
make the outbreaks less frequent and reduce the extent of the circulating virus.
That many months and even years go by without any new lesions coming out is not
a sign that the virus has been defeated: it can make a comeback as long as the
invading microorganism is latent.
Therefore it's important not to push our luck, nor let ourselves be swept along
by hopes that a supposed cure might be «coming our way». Only through a set of
very expensive medical tests exclusive to research centers in most countries,
and especially in the developing ones, can the virus be said to have been really
eliminated.
Given this choice, those who were carriers once and one good day thought they
were no longer infected and decided not to protect their partner anymore are as
irresponsible as those who risk having sex without saying anything to the other
person despite knowing full well that they're vulnerable at that moment.
CURE, PREVENT, POSTPONE
Concerning the possibility of pregnancy in couples with HPV or Herpes Simplex,
several things must be taken into account. To begin with, they need to be aware
that the risk of harming the baby decreases when the carrier is the man and not
the woman who gestates the new life.
Dealing as we are with STDs solely passed on through direct contact with the
exposed virus, the first thing to do is avoid a pregnancy while the lesions are
present.
Waiting for a better time, when the situation is under control, is the natural
thing to do. If so, a woman can get pregnant without fear, give birth normally,
and even breastfeed her baby.
If she's the carrier and her lesions are excreting the virus, a caesarean
section is advisable to stop the newborn from being exposed to and getting the
virus in the mother's vagina, an event with very serious consequences to the
baby's health.
So before giving up a barrier method of contraception, it's imperative that both
members have as thorough a medical checkup as possible as well as a
straightforward conversation in which they both undertake an unbreakable pledge
to be faithful to each other.
This is the best decision a couple can make, even if they seem to be healthy:
under any circumstances, better be safe than sorry.
---ooOoo---
20 de enero de 2007
21:51:07 GMT
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2007-01-20/pregunte-sin-pena/
L.G: Quisiera saber qué me sucede y que me aconsejen si debo ir al médico. Llevo cuatro años con mi pareja y nos ha ido muy bien. Pero hace unos meses, cuando creo que he llegado al orgasmo, sale un líquido que moja la sábana. Yo siempre he lubricado, pero no así. No lo he olido por eso no sé si es orine. No sucede siempre, pero se repite de vez en cuando. Una vez mi pareja se burló de mí y creo que se está distanciando desde entonces. Tengo 44 años.
El problema no es que se manche la sábana, sino que ocurre solo algunas veces en los últimos tiempos. Ante la irrupción de situaciones como esta es recomendable acudir al médico.
El volumen de líquido vaginal lubricante segregado durante la respuesta sexual varía de una mujer a otra. Algunas pueden mojar la cama, pero si a ti te ocurre solo últimamente, sin que aparezcan otros cambios en tu funcionamiento sexual no es seguro que se trate de la secreción vaginal.
La uretra femenina es un conducto de unos cuatro centímetros de longitud que parte de la vejiga, está próximo a la pared anterior de la vagina, y termina detrás del clítoris. Dada la cercanía muchas veces aparecen ganas de orinar durante o inmediatamente después del orgasmo, y algunas mujeres llegan a derramar el mencionado líquido. Esto no es lo más usual y si bien puede suceder sin que haya afección alguna, existen trastornos condicionantes de este fenómeno. Por eso es aconsejable que acudas al médico.
En cuanto a tu pareja podrías discriminar si eres tú quien se está distanciando por sentirte acomplejada o si verdaderamente él se está alejando. En caso de que lo último esté aconteciendo deberías valorar cuál es la causa. Si el motivo final fuera tu problema, entonces eres tú quien debería cuestionarse el futuro de esta relación.
20 de enero de 2007
21:52:13 GMT
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2007-01-20/sabias-que/
LAS infecciones de transmisión sexual como la gonorrea pueden duplicar el riesgo de desarrollar cáncer de vejiga en los hombres, según estudios recientes de la Escuela de Salud Pública de Harvard, Estados Unidos.
Las investigaciones estuvieron basadas en cuestionarios detallados e historiales médicos de 51 259 norteamericanos extraídos de un pesquisaje sobre la salud de los profesionales en 1986.
De ellos fueron identificados 286 casos de cáncer de vejiga entre los presentes en la lista relacionados con la gonorrea, por lo que los expertos refieren la posibilidad de haber encontrado la relación más estrecha hasta ahora entre el cáncer y las enfermedades de transmisión sexual.
Los estudios revelaron que un precedente de gonorrea en los varones aumenta el riesgo de cáncer de vejiga invasor, que dificulta los pronósticos.
El próximo paso consistirá en confirmar si ese peligro adicional lo causa directamente la gonorrea o se debe a sus síntomas.
Esta es una infección que generalmente se repite y que provoca inflamación local y sensaciones de vaciamiento incompleto de la vejiga. La inflamación en sí o los síntomas asociados podrían contribuir al desarrollo del cáncer de vejiga, señalaron los especialistas.
Los tumores en la vejiga son el noveno cáncer más común en el mundo.
pdf of actual print edition from the paper:
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/UserFiles/File/impreso/icuba-2007-01-20.pdf
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