H is for HIV, Herpes and other Sexually Transmitted Infections - a podcast by Dr. Lori Beth Bisbey - A to Z of Sex

Hi everyone! Welcome to the A to Z of Sex. I’m Dr Lori Beth and I am your host. We are working our way through the erotic alphabet one letter at a time. Just a reminder this podcast deals with adult content, so if you don’t have total privacy, you might want to put on your headphones. Today the letter is H and H is for HIV, Herpes and other Sexually Transmitted Infections.
So often information about sexually transmitted infections and sexual health is accessed only once. Many people never really learn much about the types of problems that can arise as a result of sex. We don’t make learning about it sexy and people often prefer to avoid things that are unpleasant, awkward or might cause conflict.
Today I am taking you through a grand tour of sexually transmitted infections and diseases. I will describe the disease, how you transmit it/catch it and any treatment available as well as how you can prevent it. Since we started doing this for the letter H, I will start with all the diseases that begin with H.
H is for Hepatitis (A,B,C,D, E). Hepatitis comes in at least 5 forms. Hepatitis is an inflammation and/or infection of the liver. Your liver is the organ responsible for cleaning your blood, detoxifies chemicals, metabolizes drugs and makes proteins that are needed for clotting. Acute hepatitis either resolves on its own, progresses to chronic forms. Chronic hepatitis can lead to liver scarring or liver cancer. The most common causes of hepatitis are viruses. But some can be caused by alcohol abuse and autoimmune disease. Types A and E are spread primarily through contaminated food and water. Types B and C are blood born viruses and spread through needle sharing and sexual activity where there is access to the blood stream. Type D only infects those who are already infected with type B. There are vaccines for Hepatitis A and B but not for the rest. Prevention is having safe sex (using barrier methods for all sexual activity).
There are a variety of treatments for hepatitis C now and some can be quite successful. Because hepatitis can lead to liver failure and liver cancer, screening is essential and treatment as early on give the best chance of recovery. If you are diagnosed with hepatitis, you must abstain completely from alcohol and limit your drug intake (including prescriptions and over the counter medication) to decrease the stress on the liver.
H is for Herpes: Herpes comes in a variety of forms. There is a family of 9 herpes viruses that attacks humans and that includes herpes simplex 1 and 2, varicella zoster, Epstein-Barr and cytomegalovirus. Herpes simplex 1 and 2 are the ones that cause oral and genital herpes. The viruses are caught via skin to skin contact when the virus is active (from when the tingling first appears until new skin has grown). You can catch it in more than one place but will rarely spread it through your body. First outbreaks can involve flu like symptoms as well as blisters and sores at the infected area. Some people have repeated outbreaks and others have only one.
6 out of 10 people in the UK have type 1 by age 25 and 1 out of 10 have type 2. Most people who have herpes have mild or no symptoms and so do not know they have it. Antiviral medication can prevent outbreaks and make them resolve more quickly.
H is for HIV: HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system and weakens the body’s ability to fight other viruses. There is no cure but there are many treatments that help people to live a long and healthy life. AIDS is the last stage of HIV infection. Early diagnosis and treatment of HIV prevents things moving on to become AIDS.
HIV is contained in body fluids of infected people. You can contract it from having sex without a condom or from sharing needles or there is transmission from mother to child during pregnancy, birth or breast feeding. For the most part, HIV is spread through anal or vaginal sex but it is possible

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