Sexually Transmitted Infections
and Other Infections of
the Genitals
261
I don’t
want to
go to the
clinic.
Health
Center
But if we don’t
get cured together
we’ll just get
infected again.
Sexually transmitted infections, or STIs, are infections passed
from one person to another during sex. Any type of sex can
cause an STI. It can be penis to vagina sex, or penis to anus
sex, or oral sex (mouth to penis, mouth to vagina). Sometimes
STIs can happen from just rubbing an infected penis or vagina
against another person’s genitals. STIs can be passed from
a pregnant woman to her baby before it is born, or during
childbirth. STIs increase the risk of getting or giving HIV.
Unless they are treated early, STIs can cause:
• infertility in both men and women.
• babies born too early, too small, blind, sick, or dead.
• pregnancy in the tube (outside the womb).
• death from severe infection.
• lasting pain in the lower abdomen.
• cancer of the cervix.
➤ Early treatment of
STIs in both partners
can prevent many
serious problems.
➤ This chapter will
also help you treat
some problems of the
genitals that are not
sexually transmitted.
Where Women Have No Doctor 2012