Not until 1964 did doctors recognize group B strep as a threat to women’s and new-borns’ health. Since then, it has become an important cause of serious infection in both groups. It is responsible for most of the serious illness in babies younger than two months old.

Group B streptococcus is a circular bacterium that is grouped in chains. There are several different species or groups of streptococci—group B tends to infect pregnant females and newborns.

Group B strep is found in soil and vegetation, and it is a normal part of the intestinal tracts of humans and many animals. However, in about 4 to 40 percent of pregnant women (the rate varies depending on the region of the country), group B strep migrates to the genital tract, where it colonizes, or lives without causing disease. About half of Read the rest of this entry »

Gonorrhea

Gonorrhea is the most commonly reported communicable disease in the United States. Each year from 1975 to 1980, doctors reported more than a million cases of gonorrhea; since 1980 the number of people with gonorrhea has been declining. In 1993, 440,000 Americans had reported cases of gonorrhea. In Canada, doctors reported 63,000 cases of Read the rest of this entry »

Giardia

Giardiasis is the commonest cause of waterborne infections in the United States. It is caused by Giardia lamblia, a protozoan with a whiplike tail that allows it to move. It infects only your intestinal tract and will not spread to other parts of the body.

How Do You Get It?

In children, the disease is spread by ingesting contaminated feces, usually by hand to mouth contact. The feces of an infected child are filled with Giardia cysts which are infectious. The cysts are also present on toys, changing tables, and Read the rest of this entry »

German Measles (Rubella)

When I was a child, rubella, or German measles, was known as a nonpreventable, mild childhood illness that was devastating to a fetus if the mother is infected during the first three months of her pregnancy. In early pregnancy the rubella virus can infect almost every developing organ in the fetus.

I remember my parents’ friends calling to inform us when one of their children had German measles. I was promptly sent over to play with the infected child so that I too could catch German measles. All young girls were supposed to get Read the rest of this entry »

Genital Warts

Genital warts are the most common viral sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the United States—even more common than genital herpes. Almost two million Americans are treated for genital warts each year.

A virus called human papillomavirus (HPV) is responsible for genital warts. This family of viruses infect and change only the cells that form either skin or mucous membranes. Other subtypes in this family cause skin warts. Eight different types are associated with genital warts, of which only a few—type 16 and type 18—so far seem to increase the risk of cervical cancer in a woman. The types associated with cervical cancer usually do not cause visible warts. The different Read the rest of this entry »

Genital Herpes

Until AIDS appeared, the late 1970s and early 1980s was a period of herpes hysteria. It was the most common sexually transmitted disease in the country; and it struck young, single, and usually middle-class men and women. Herpes captured immense media attention and terrified young, sexually active singles. The public was always more frightened by herpes than was the medical community, who considered herpes a discomfort rather than a dangerous or life-threatening infection. The exception to this statement is congenital herpes. Babies born to first-time infected mothers may have serious, life-threatening illness.

Herpes simplex virus type 2 is responsible for 85 percent of genital herpes. Type 1, which causes most herpes infections above the waist, is responsible for the other 15 percent.

How Do You Get It?

It is spread by contact with the genital secretions of a person who has active lesions. Sometimes a person in the latent phase, who has no symptoms, will also shed virus and can infect a sex partner. The virus can infect any skin or mucous membrane surface on your body, and will, depending on your sexual practices. Someone with a cold sore who engages Read the rest of this entry »