Vulva Is Resistant to Antibiotics

Antibiotic resistance is when bacteria are no longer responsive to antibiotics that are meant to kill them. When a bacteria is exposed to treatment too often (over-reliance on antibiotic treatment as illness management) or at infrequent low doses (when treatment is not fully completed/adhered to), like other living organisms its DNA changes to be able to survive.

Why does it matter?
Globally, there have been reports of gonorrhea (N. gonorrhoeae - bacteria name) strains that are resistant to first-line antibiotic therapy (like penicillin, tetracycline, erythromycin and ciprofloxacin - types of antibiotics). When bacterial infections, like gonorrhea, are no longer responsive to the medical treatments available it remains untreated in the body and can lead to health complications like: infertility, chronic pelvic pain, bacteria spreading to the blood causing nervous system damage, parent to child transmission, or ectopic pregnancies. Also, the presence on an STI in the body increases the likelihood getting another STI like chlamydia, or HIV (the virus that can lead to AIDS).

In Kanata (Canada), gonorrhea is the second most commonly diagnosed and reported bacterial STI. Much like the incidences of STIs, antibiotic resistance will vary from country to country, even regionally. The distribution of antibiotic resistance can be thought of in the same way as other STIs, the social determinants of health and health inequities are really important when thinking about why there are higher rates of certain antibiotic resistance both geographically and socially.

Sources Cited:
1. Centre of Disease Control and Prevention. 2017. Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/solutions-initiative/drug-resistant-gonorrhea.html 
2. Public Health Agency of Canada. 2013. Canadian Guidelines on Sexually Transmitted Infections. Retrieved from: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/std-mts/sti-its/cgsti-ldcits/section-5-6-eng.php#toc361210445
3. Public Health Agency of Canada. 2015. Canada Communicable Disease Report. Retrieved from: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/std-mts/sti-its/cgsti-ldcits/section-5-6-eng.php#toc361210445
4. Tapsall J. Antibiotic resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is diminishing available treatment options for gonorrhoea: Some possible remedies. Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2006; 4:619-628

Vulva Is Syphilis Postive

Syphilis is a bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) that when present in the body can be passed on through skin-to-skin contact, birth, sharing used works (like crack pipes) for inhaling drugs, and sex without a barrier (condoms, gloves or dental dams). 

Symptoms:
Syphilis can progress through 3 stages if left untreated. In primary syphillis a small painless lesion (chancre) appears- then goes away, even if left untreated. In secondary syphilis- a rash develops on the body with flu like symptoms, and tertiary syphilis can lead to long term complications like brain damage or stroke.

Treatment:
Syphilis can be treated with antibiotics. It kills the bacteria in the body, but it does not reverse any damage it may have done.

Some options on prevention:
getting tested, completing treatment, using barriers when having sex, using new works and having convos with sexual partners about STIs

Historical (racist) fact:
Syphilis has come to symbolize racism in medicine through the Tuskegee Syphilis Study from 1932 - 1972. United States public health enlisted 399 poor black sharecroppers (a tenant farmer who gives a part of each crop as rent) living with syphilis in Macon country to track the effects of untreated syphilis. Without informed consent, the men were never told they had syphilis and were denied treatment even after the penicillin came into use in 1947. 28 men died from tertiary syphilis, 100 others died from complications, 40 wives were infected, and 19 children were born with syphilis.

For more information on Syphilis and other STIs, follow the jump below:
http://sexualhealthontario.ca/infections/syphilis/

The STI Series!

I started doing sexual health education with other teens when I was 15 and in high school. When I got into doing workshops I found there weren't many visual resources available to talk about sexually transmitted infections (STI), other than the most exaggerated, fake or graphic images.

Having images that aren't fear mongering or body shaming are important tools of engagement to start/continue conversations about health. So after many days of researching, looking at images, and talking to people about genitals and STI's I've got this growing series of genitals with felted, beaded and embroidered representations of STI symptoms. This genital series aims to share information about the signs and symptoms of STIs (and lack thereof) so we can recognize them to be able to minimize STI transmission and/or the chances of getting one. So for the next little bit I'll be posting STI specific health things, starting with some biomedical info - which is one way to have conversations about health.

I'm so down for collabos on STI health and management, chats, questions & comments so get at me, yeah?