Contents:
- Medical Video: 5 STDs that can threaten your fertility
- Why can venereal disease make it difficult to get pregnant?
- What sexually transmitted diseases are the causes of pregnancy difficulties?
- 1. Chlamydia
- 2. Gonorrhea
- 3. Mycoplasma genitalium (MG)
- 4. HIV
- Is a person with venereal disease affected by fertility?
Medical Video: 5 STDs that can threaten your fertility
Venereal disease spreads through unprotected oral, anal, or vaginal sex with an infected partner. Venereal disease occurs mostly in adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 24 years.
Sexually transmitted diseases can be one of the causes of pregnancy problems that you might never have expected so far. This is especially true for women. However, men also have to be careful because venereal disease threatens the quality of their sperm to fertilize a woman's egg, which can cause difficulty getting pregnant.
Here is a brief explanation of venereal diseases that can be a cause of difficulty for you and your partner.
Why can venereal disease make it difficult to get pregnant?
Doctors often describe venereal disease as a "hidden" infection because most people diagnosed with this disease do not show any symptoms. When left without treatment, over time venereal disease can eventually cause pelvic inflammatory infections. Pelvic inflammatory infection (PID) is one of the main causes of preventable female infertility.
Women infected with PID will experience scarring in the fallopian tubes and other reproductive organs. This prevents the egg and sperm from meeting for fertilization. And if the egg is successfully fertilized, the fallopian tubes blocked by scar tissue can also prevent the embryo from reaching the uterus. This can increase your chances of getting pregnant outside the womb, aka an ectopic pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancy is a complication of pregnancy that is very dangerous and can even be fatal.
Venereal disease can also cause infertility in men. The process is similar to how PID damages the female fallopian tubes. The structure of the male reproductive tract, including the epididymis (ejaculatory duct) and urethra, can be blocked due to scar tissue that develops from untreated gonorrhea and chlamydia infection. The immune system that has drastically decreased due to HIV can also reduce the quality of the feasibility and number of sperm in semen. This is what makes the opportunity for men to make their partners pregnant will be much more difficult.
Fertility problems due to venereal disease in men are less common than women. However, this is largely based on the fact that genital infections in men are more likely to show typical symptoms. Therefore, venereal disease in men is more likely to be quickly detected and treated.
What sexually transmitted diseases are the causes of pregnancy difficulties?
Not all sexually transmitted diseases are a cause of pregnancy difficulties, but certain types can endanger your chances of getting pregnant and giving birth to a healthy baby. Venereal diseases most often associated with causes of pregnancy difficulties include:
1. Chlamydia
Chlamydia is one of the two main causes of pelvic inflammatory infection (PID), along with gonorrhea. Chlamydia can also cause asymptomatic infections in the upper genital tract, which can cause permanent damage to the fallopian tubes, uterus and other organs that are important for making babies, which causes infertility.
2. Gonorrhea
Like chlamydia, gonorrhea is also a major cause of PID, which later became a cause of difficulty getting pregnant for some people. Gonorrhea can cause scar tissue that blocks the fallopian tubes and increases the risk of an ectopic pregnancy (which can be life threatening to the mother and always deadly to the baby). Gonorrhea also increases your risk of contracting HIV. If you become pregnant while infected with gonorrhea, you can continue the disease to your baby.
3. Mycoplasma genitalium (MG)
Although the name sounds less familiar to the ear, mycoplasma genitalium has been known for the past few decades. Mycoplasma genitalium is a type of bacterial infection found to be associated with nongonococcal urethritis in men and bacterial vaginosis in women. The main complications of bacterial infections due to venereal disease in women are upper genital tract infections that result in pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and fallopian tube scarring. Both are the main factors causing difficulty getting pregnant and causing an ectopic pregnancy.
4. HIV
Thanks to medical advances, HIV / AIDS is now no longer a "death law" verdict like in the past, but it still influences the quality of life of its patients, including its opportunity to conceive and give birth to children. A study conducted on populations of HIV-infected mothers in Uganda showed that they were more difficult to conceive and tended to be more vulnerable to miscarriages. In addition, HIV will reduce the immune system which can further worsen the sexually transmitted infections that occur. No wonder the next sexually transmitted infection experienced will worsen the fertility of the mother. Infection from the mother may also be passed on to the baby during labor.
Is a person with venereal disease affected by fertility?
It is important to note that most people who are infected with venereal disease will not always experience difficulty getting pregnant or other fertility problems. This is especially true for patients who are screened and treated appropriately.
Venereal disease can be a cause of difficulty getting pregnant because of an infection that is not detected and continues until chronic without treatment. For that, always consult a doctor if you have a history of having unprotected sex and / or have other risk factors for any sexually transmitted diseases. Further consultation with the doctor to get the right food.
