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Your at-a-glance guide to other STIs and how to spot the symptoms.

Sex life

Other STIs to avoid

Your at-a-glance guide to other STIs.

Genital warts

A virus called HPV that is passed on by skin-to-skin contact, mostly during sex. Genital warts are unlikely to spread to other parts of the body.

Symptoms:

  • Mainly lumps on the skin of the genitals or around the anus that appear one - three months after contact with an infected person; they can range from white to pink, and often have a cauliflower-like surface;
  • There can be several warts, or just one, and they vary in size;
  • Warts are mostly painless, but sometimes they are itchy;
  • HPV can also cause flat warts or infection that is not visible to the naked eye.

Gonorrhoea

An infection caused by gonococcus bacteria that is passed on during penetrative sex, oral sex and anal sex. The number of young people catching gonorrhoea ('the clap') in the UK is currently rising at an alarming rate. Symptoms start two - ten days after having sex with an infected person.

Male symptoms:

  • Painful urination;
  • Yellowish or creamy discharge from the penis;
  • Tender testicles;
  • After anal sex - anal itching or discharge;
  • After oral sex - sore throat and fever;
  • One-third of men have no symptoms;

Female symptoms:

  • Painful urination;
  • Yellow or greenish, smelly vaginal discharge;
  • After anal sex - anal itching or discharge;
  • After oral sex - sore throat and fever;
  • Over half of women have no symptoms.

Pubic lice and scabies

Pubic lice ('crabs') are tiny greyish insects that live and breed around the pubic hair. They are about the size of a full stop, and lay eggs attached to the pubic hair. Scabies are tiny mites that burrow into the surface of the skin of the genitals, buttocks, breasts, or between the fingers. Both infections are passed on by sexual contact, but can also be passed on by infected bed linen, clothes, and towels.

Lice symptoms:

  • Pubic lice are just visible to the human eye;
  • Their droppings can sometimes be seen as black dust on underwear;
  • There is often itching in the infected area.

Scabies symptoms:

  • About three weeks after infection, an intense itching starts in the affected areas, and there is often a rash where the mites burrow into the skin.

Hepatitis C

A virus ('hep-C') that can affect the liver. This disease is not fully understood, but it seems to be passed on in several ways. It can be caught during unprotected sex, from contaminated needles, and during blood transfusions (in some countries outside the UK where blood is not tested for the virus).

Symptoms:

  • A flu-like illness, with nausea, vomiting, and tiredness;
  • Weight loss;
  • Diarrhoea;
  • Itchy skin;
  • Jaundice (yellowing of the skin), although this is rare.

Trichomonas

A tiny parasite named trichomonas vaginalis, which causes a condition called trichomoniasis ('trich').

Female symptoms:

  • Unpleasant frothy vaginal discharge, often a yellowish-green colour; 
  • Soreness, itching and inflammation of cervix, vagina, and vulva (opening of the vagina).

Male symptoms:

  • There are often no symptoms if a man is carrying this infection;
  • Some men get urethritis (it stings when they pee and may be a discharge from the penis).

What to do next

If you think you may have an STI, the worst thing you can do is pretend nothing's happening. Admit to yourself you need to do something about the problem and act quickly. Don't take the risk with your health. OK, it might turn out to be just a pimple or an allergy but be honest; you won't be able to relax until you know what's wrong. Either visit your GP or local sexual health clinic or call one of the organisations below who have local centres that you can visit confidentially.