1. + Sexually- Transmitted Diseases: Bacteria – Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and Syphilis Andres Quinones Luis Aguilar Biology 1310 University of Houston-Downtown

2. + Table of Contents: Geography Physiology Severity Cure/Treatment Quality of Life Long Term Problems Social View Current Research/ Obstacles

3. + Chlamydia Sexually transmitted disease caused by a bacteria called Chlamydia Trachomatis. It is spread mostly through vaginal, oral, and anal sex. Gonorrhea Sexually transmitted disease caused when an infection with the Neisseria gonorrhea bacterium infects the mucous membranes. It is mostly spread through vaginal, oral, and anal sex. Syphilis Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. Syphilis can cause long-term complications and/or death if not adequately treated. What Is?

4. + Geography STD:Location Chlamydia Chlamydia is currently the most common bacterial sexually transmitted disease in the United States. Chlamydia is most common in sexually active teenagers, specifically between the ages of 14- 24. Gonorrhea It is a world wide problem that most commonly affect sexually active teenagers between the ages of 15-24. About 820,000 people get Gonorrhea every year in the United States. Syphilis There are about 55,400 people in the United States that acquire the syphilis infections every year.

5. + Physiology Chlamydia is known to affect the skin and recently it has been found that there might be a correlation between Chlamydia Pneumoniae and Alzheimer. This means that Chlamydia may be affecting the brain. Gonorrhea causes: skin lesions or rashes Syphilis is known to affect the brain and the heart. Cardiovascular syphilis causes the narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart. This can lead to chest pain, heart attacks, and death. Neurosyphilis is caused by the same bacteria that causes syphilis, Treponema Pallidum. It causes blindness, confusion, dementia, depression, irritability, inability to walk, poor concentration, weakness, and seizures. It can be treated with Penicillin but if caught late it can lead to death.

6. + Affected Organ Systems (Physiology Cont.) Chlamydia can affect the urinary system, if the disease is contracted in the urethra. It also affects the reproductive system if it is contracted in the cervix, testes, uterus, or ovaries. Chlamydia affects the digestive system if it is contracted in the anus or throat. Chlamydia can even affect the respiratory system for some babies that are born with the disease. Finally, the immune system can be affected by Chlamydia because as the immune system fights off the disease it gets weaker. Gonorrhea mostly affects the reproductive system. For both men and women there is a burning sensation when urinating. Males often secrete a white, yellow, or green substance when urinating. Females secrete blood when urinating. This is also a good way of knowing if you are infected. The organ systems that are affected by Syphilis include: Reproductive system, immune system, cardiovascular system, and the nervous system.

7. + Severity There may be many complications with the reproductive system, including infertility. If a woman is pregnant there are many consequences for the baby, including premature birth and the passing of the disease to the baby This may cause blindness, pneumonia, and even death for the newborn. Gonorrhea can be extremely severe. It mostly causes infertility, sterilization, pain, and if it spreads to the blood and joints it may even cause death. It is the most severe out of all of the Sexually transmitted diseases because it spreads to vital body parts such as the brain and heart. When these body parts get infected, it is easier for the infected person to die.

8. + Cure/Treatment ChlamydiaGonorrheaSyphilis If the disease is caught early, the proper treatment of antibiotics can easily cure the disease. Gonorrhea may also be cured with the proper antibiotics. The medication for Gonorrhea has become less effective because the bacteria is getting immune to the antibiotics. If caught in the early stages, syphilis can be cured with one shot of an injection called Benzathine penicillin G. For an infected person in the late stage, doctors recommend three shots of this vaccine instead of one.

9. + Common Treatments and Quality of Life: Chlamydia There is a variety of types of antibiotics that can be used to treat Chlamydia such as: Doxycycline, Zithromax, or Zithromax and Z-pak. They all serve the same function, the only important difference would be the dosage required for each treatment. The quality of life for people with Chlamydia is fairly normal if they get treated. But, if they are left untreated their quality of life can be very bad. It would involve money, time, effort, abstinence, and rejection from friends and family.

10. + Common Treatments and Quality of Life: Gonorrhea For gonorrhea, doctors used to prescribe certain shot of antibiotics to fight the disease, such as: Ceftriaxone, Azithromycin, or Doxycycline. However, since the disease has resisting these shots, doctors are starting to give their patients a higher dosage of the antibiotic. Doctors and medicine researchers realize that it’s only a matter of time before the disease starts resisting the larger dose of antibiotics, so they are working on some new treatments. The quality of life for people with gonorrhea is fairly normal if they get treated. But, if they are left untreated their quality of life can be very bad. It would involve money, time, effort, abstinence, and rejection from friends and family.

11. + Common Treatments and Quality of Life: Syphilis Most doctors use Penicillin, an antibiotic, to treat all types and stages of syphilis. The only thing that changes are the dosages of the penicillin shot. As the syphilis gets stronger, the dosage in the Penicillin shots and the shots increase.

12. + Long Term Problems The consequences include: Infertility in women and men, pain, pre-term birth, and death. Also, if a women is infected with Chlamydia and is also pregnant she may pass the infection to her child. Women- Pelvic Inflammatory Disease which increases the risk of infertility. Pregnant Women- miscarriage, premature delivery, and passing the infection to the baby. Newborn- infections in the bloodstream and in the fluid and tissue that surrounds the brain, blindness. Men- inflammation of the prostate, infertility. If Syphilis is properly treated there are no long term consequences. However, if it is left untreated there are long term consequences such as: dementia, blindness, and even death.

13. + Family and Society How They are Viewed: There is a negative social view associated with STD’s. This negative social view acts as a wall for people who have the disease and need help. Also, the “moral” view of sex is that it should only be done for procreation, this makes people, specially teenagers, afraid of asking for sexual advice and protection, which ultimately leads to an STD because of lack of information. All of this stigma impacts society because it restricts us from progress and from helping each other. It separates us from each other. It can be expensive to get treated for an STD, if it is caught in the late stages, but better research and funding may discover better treatments at lower costs. But, in order to have better treatments people need to realize that having an STD is not immoral.

14. + New Research Out of all the antibiotics that were tested, only two of them had a successful effect on the disease. They are called gentamicin IV plus azithromycin PO, and gemifloxacin PO plus azithromycin PO. Even though these two antibiotics were successful, there are still not recommended because they cause extreme gastrointestinal side effects. However, they are still an option for people who are allergic or immune to the other treatmens.

15. + Current Research: Chlamydia The Chlamydia genome has been accessed. This means that researchers are going to be able to study the bacteria better. This discovery opens up the door for other discoveries, including: treatments, vaccines, and maybe even a full cure.

16. + Obstacles that Prevent a Solution An extremely high amount of the people that get infected with Chlamydia are “invisible”, meaning that they can’t be seen or felt. This is an obstacle because since many people don’t know they have it, they don’t get treated and spread the disease.

17. + Current Research: Gonorrhea The bacteria has become immune to most of the antibiotics. There has been a new treatment discovered called IL-12 (interleukin-12). The IL-12 doesn’t allow the gonorrhea bacteria to get immune to the antibiotics. Also, the IL-12 significantly reduces the chance of contracting the bacteria again.

18. + Obstacles that Prevent a Solution The gonorrhea bacteria is becoming immune to all of the antibiotics used to cure it. This is a serious problem because if the bacteria becomes immune to all of the current treatments, many people could die.

19. + Current Research: Syphilis There is a great focus on developing a new diagnostic test that requires either urine or saliva, not blood. There is also a major focus in developing a new diagnostic test for infants Last but not least, researchers have sequenced the genome for the syphilis bacterium. This has helped improved the chances of discovering better treatments, diagnostic tests, and vaccines.

20. + Conclusion Sexually transmitted diseases can be a serious threat to your life. I hope that by having explained the severity, cure, physiological effects, long term complications, treatments, and quality of life of these three diseases, you now have a better understanding of this issue and are able to avoid it.

21. + Works Cited "Chlamydia: Long Term Consequences." About.com Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs). N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://std.about.com/od/bacterialstds/a/chlamydiaeffect "Chlamydia." Definition. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2014.. "Chlamydia." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7 Jan. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.. "Gonorrhea-What Happens." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.. "Gonorrhea." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7 Jan. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.. "The Tangled Neuron." 'The Tangled Neuron'. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.. "Cardiovascular syphilis." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.. "Neurosyphilis." The New York Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease "Chlamydia Treatment Symptoms Pictures Chlamydia Symptoms Pictures Chlamydia Treatment." Chlamydia Symptoms, Pictures, Treatment. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2014.. "Chlamydia Infection." : Causes, Signs, & Treatment. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://www.healthline.com/health/std/chlamydia

22. + Works Cited Cont. "Chlamydia-What Happens." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.. "Gonorrhea Treatment & Management." Gonorrhea Treatment & Management. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.. "Gonorrhea-What Happens." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.. "Syphilis Treatment & Management." Syphilis Treatment & Management. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.. "Syphilis Symptoms, Causes, and Diagnosis." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.. "Social Implications of Sexually Transmitted Diseases." Ncib.nlm.nih.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.. "Syphilis." Research, NIAID, NIH. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/syphilis/research "New Treatment for Gonorrhea Prevents Reinfection." Scientific American Global RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.. "Significant breakthrough in study of chlamydia." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20