Germs like bacteria and viruses can cause sexually transmitted diseases or STDs. Your doctor knows the best way to treat these contagious and serious infections. If you have signs of an infection, see your health provider as soon as possible to get diagnosed and decide on the best treatment.
Bacterial STDs can be cured with antibiotics, but viral ones can't be cured. You can only manage the symptoms and keep the virus from spreading. Although it wont help if you already have the STD, there is a vaccine against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and the human papillomavirus (HPV).
Consider getting vaccinated before you're infected with one of these STDs. Discover tips for taking antibiotics, how STDs are treated, and what to do if you're already infected.
Tips for Taking Antibiotics
If you're taking antibiotics to treat an STD, here are some things to keep in mind:
- Take all of the prescribed medicine, even if your symptoms go away
- Do not share your medicine with anyone else; it might not be right or interfere with other medicines
- Do not take someone else's medication to treat your infection; it may make it more difficult to treat
- Take it with a light meal or snack to lower your chances of nausea
- Drink a full glass of water and sit up for at least 30 minutes afterwards; it can help you avoid stomach upset
- Wear sunscreen or protective clothing if your antibiotic causes sun sensitivity
STD Treatments
HIV/AIDS
AIDS isn't curable, but treatment can keep HIV levels in check. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) treats HIV infection using several medications. The sooner you start after your HIV diagnosis, the better chance you have to reach an undetectable viral load.
An undetectable viral load means that your doctor can't find any HIV in your body using a blood test. This can help you live a long and healthy life. You'll also have a very low risk of passing the virus through sex to a partner.
Your partner can also take pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). It's a medicine that can lower your partner's risk of getting HIV by about 99%. PrEP comes as a daily pill, a bimonthly shot, or two injections a year.
Chlamydia and Gonorrhea
Untreated chlamydia or gonorrhea can cause complications and raise your risk for pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), permanent damage to your reproductive organs, the inability to get pregnant, and more.
Antibiotics can treat chlamydia and gonorrhea. But sometimes you may not have symptoms. If you think you've been exposed, ask your doctor about testing. It can be hard to talk about, but let your sex partners know if you have it. They'll also need treatment, regardless of whether they have symptoms.
Certain types of gonorrhea have learned to grow despite antibiotics — it's called antibiotic resistance. So you may have to take more than one medicine to fight gonorrhea. If you're not feeling better after a few days, let your doctor know.
They can give you a different antibiotic like gepotidacin (Blujepa) or zoliflodacin (Nuzolvence). This new class of antibiotics blocks two enzymes gonorrhea needs to make DNA and grow.
Give yourself time to heal. Your chances for reinfection with chlamydia and gonorrhea is higher after three months. So follow up with your doctor to make sure the infection has cleared.
Syphilis
Syphilis is curable with antibiotics, but without treatment, complications can happen. Consider getting regular syphilis checkups if you're at higher risk because having syphilis once can't protect you from getting it again.
Syphilis spreads quickly through oral and anal sex, raising your chance for other STDs, too. So if you're already infected, syphilis sores can make easy doorways for HIV infection. In fact, a little over a third of men who have sex with men have both syphilis and HIV.
Penicillin is the preferred treatment for syphilis. Early treatment can help prevent the bacteria from spreading and causing complications.
Genital herpes
With genital herpes, the virus remains in your body for life. After the first outbreak, herpes may flare up several times per year. But these episodes may lessen over time. Antiviral medications can help lower the length and severity of herpes outbreaks. Your doctor may give you:
- Acyclovir (Zovirax)
- Famciclovir (Famvir)
- Valacyclovir (Valtrex)
If your outbreaks happen often, you may want to use suppressive therapy — medicine that you take every day. It can help prevent you from getting a herpes outbreak.
Genital warts
There are more than 40 human papillomavirus (HPV) strains that cause genital warts . Most spread through sex, even if the warts are too small to see. If you're sexually active, you're at risk for HPV.
Without treatment, genital HPV can cause cervical cancer. Rarely, warts can grow inside your vaginal walls, making it hard to pee. Larger warts can also make it hard for your vagina to stretch during childbirth and you may bleed. It's very rare, but your baby can also get warts in their throat and need surgery to breathe better.
There isn't an antiviral treatment for genital warts. Sometimes, they'll disappear without medicine. But they may come back or itch. If this happens, talk to your doctor about treatment options. Your doctor may suggest:
- Freezing the warts with liquid nitrogen, also called cryotherapy
- Boosting your immune system using a cream like imiquimod (Zyclara) applied directly to the warts
- Destroying the warts with a topical solution like podofilox (Condylox) and podophyllin (Podocon-25)
- Burning off the warts using the chemical called trichloroacetic acid
- Treating your warts with sinecatechins (Veregen) ointment
- Using an electric current to burn off the warts, also called electrocautery
- Cutting the warts off, known as surgical excision
- Removing the warts with intense beams of light, laser treatments
Keep in mind that treatment does not rid you of the infection, and you can still give HPV to others. The only way to prevent HPV is getting vaccinated before you're infected. Ask your doctor about:
- Two doses of the HPV vaccine for children ages 9 to 14
- Three doses of the HPV vaccine for ages 15 through 26
- The Gardasil 9 HPV vaccine if you're 27 to 45 years old
Hepatitis B
If you think you've been exposed to hepatitis B, talk to your doctor right away. They can give you Hepatitis B Immune Globulin (HBIG) combined with the vaccine. This medicine, called post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), can help stop hepatitis B infection within 24 hours of exposure.
Sometimes, the infection goes away on its own. But other times, hepatitis B can cause a chronic illness. This means hepatitis B becomes a lifelong infection, but treatment can help keep the virus in check.
Your doctor can help stop the virus from making copies of itself and causing liver damage. Taking medicine also helps lower your risk of passing the virus to other people. Your doctor will combine medicines to fight hepatitis B and prescribe:
- Antiviral medications such as adefovir (Hepsera), entecavir (Baraclude), lamivudine (Epivir), and tenofovir (Viread).
- Interferon alpha shots, which includes peginterferon alfa-2a (Pegasys) to boost immunity.
Sometimes, the virus can damage your liver and you may need a liver transplant. Each treatment has pros and cons that you and your doctor can discuss.
Trichomoniasis
One of the most common infections, known as "trich," is curable using metronidazole or tinidazole to kill the parasite for:
- Seven days if you're a woman.
- One day (one dose) if you're a man.
Let your sexual partner know about your infection, too. That way, they can get treated so you don't trade the infection again. And get retested after three months to be certain the infection has cleared.
Keep in mind that mixing alcohol with metronidazole or tinidazole can cause serious nausea and vomiting, and a faster heart rate. So skip the alcohol until you've finished treatment.
