Are there disorders or conditions associated with sexually transmitted diseases and sexually transmitted infections (STDs/STIs)?

STDs/STIs in women can cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which may result in infertility (difficulty getting pregnant).

Men with STDs/STIs also can have problems with infertility.1

Additionally, a person with an STD/STI other than HIV is two to five times more likely to contract the HIV virus than a person without an STD/STI. If a person is already HIV positive, having another STD/STI increases the chances that he or she will pass the virus on to his or her sexual partner.2

Some STDs/STIs, such as human papillomavirus, viral hepatitis, and HIV, increase the risk of some forms of cancer.3,4

Certain STDs/STIs can pass from a pregnant woman to the fetus in her womb. The effects can be life threatening, as is the case with HIV. Other STDs/STIs can cause a range of disorders in the infant, including deafness, blindness, and intellectual disability.

Citations

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011, July 21). Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs): STDs & infertility. Retrieved June 6, 2012, from http://www.cdc.gov/std/infertility
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010, April 28). Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs): HIV/AIDS & STDs. Retrieved June 6, 2012, from http://www.cdc.gov/std/hiv
  3. Simard, E. P., Pfeiffer, R. M., & Engels, E. A. (2011). Cumulative incidence of cancer among individuals with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in the United States. Cancer, 117, 1089–1096.
  4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010, September 14). em>Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs): Pelvic Inflammatory Disease. Retrieved June 6, 2012, from http://www.cdc.gov/std/PID
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