As a board-certified family physician, Dr. Lawrence Delano Tran provides a wide variety of services for people of all ages right in his Burbank office. His services include STD testing, treatment, and counseling. His concern is the overall health and well-being of you and your loved ones.
What is an STD?
An STD is a sexually-transmitted infection. While most STDs are spread by person-to-person contact through sexual intercourse, some infections are "caught" by simple skin-to-skin contact.
STDs endanger genito-urinary health and sexual function, endanger unborn fetuses and maternal health and may be asymptomatic. In other words, you could have one of these dangerous diseases but not even know it. This impacts your health and the health of your sex partners.
The most common sexually-transmitted infections are:
- Syphilis
- Gonorrhea
- Genital warts
- HIV (incurable but manageable)
- Hepatitis
- Syphilis
- Herpes
- Trichomoniasis
What you can do
Knowledge about STDs is power. Consider Dr. Tran your medical advisor when it comes to your entire medical picture, including the risks, diagnosis, and treatment of STDs. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that a full 50 percent of new cases of STDs fall in the 15 to 24 age group. As such, the CDC encourages open communication with the primary care physician in learning about STDs and how to prevent them.
Because these diseases are spread by sexual contact, these safety practices are recommended for all teens and adults:
- Get tested for STDs if you are sexually active. This protects your health, your partners, and your family.
- Get treated. Most are easily treated with medication. Be sure to finish all the medications.
- Be safe. The best way to avoid STDs is to abstain. If this is not possible, be monogamous--that is, have only one sexual partner. Condoms do confer some protection if used consistently and properly.
- Girls and women should be screened for cervical cancer as this is caused by the sexually-transmitted Human Papillomavirus or HPV.