V.D. IS CURABLE

by Dr. M. P. Vora
The Home Doctor
A Practical Guide to Good Health
Vol. II, of November 1963, Page No. 41 and 42.

SOME DO’S AND DONT’S

V.D. or Venereal Diseases spread through intimate contact with a person suffering from the disease. Usually, sexual relations are responsible, but at times less intimate contacts, such as kissing, will pass on V.D.

Venereal diseases are caused by germs. The infected person, however, may appear to you to be perfectly healthy.

There are three main kinds of V.D. - Syphilis, Gonorrhoea, and Chancroid. Sometimes, a person may have more than one venereal disease at a time. These diseases, if untreated, may cause serious disorders.

WATCH THE SIGNS

The first sign of syphilis is a sore on or near the sex organs. Later on, rashes on the body, pain in the bones, sores in the mouth, sore in the throat or falling of hair may appear. These signs may go away without treatment. But the germs remain and may affect any part of the body and cause blindness, heart disease, insanity and paralysis. In its early stages, syphilis can be cured- quickly, safely and effectively.

Gonorrhoea is mostly caught through sexual intercourse. Accidental infection, as from the lavatory, is very rare, because the germs die quickly outside the body. The signs are yellowish white pus from the sex organs, accompanied by pain and burning while passing urine. If it is not treated, the disease may cause sterility and crippling damage to the joints. There is complete and swift cure for gonorrhoea today.

Chancroid is also contacted through sexual relations. The disease starts as a small painful sore or sores on the sex organs, accompanied by swellings of the glands in the groins. If not treated, chancroid sores may spread causing severe pain and discomfort and often much local damage. The safest thing is to seek the doctors’ advice when the sore appears.

REMEMBER

• Syphilis can cause insanity, deafness, blindness, paralysis, heart disease and death. Gonorrhoea can cause damage to sex organs in men and women, inability to bear children, arthritis (crippling).
• V.D. does not just “happen” to a person. It is not spread by water, food, or air. It is not caught from latrines, urinals, or door handles.
• Infection spreads through sexual intercourse. An infected person can pass the disease to his wife.
• Signs of syphilis may go away even without treatment. But, the germs remain and do their harmful work.
• No one should treat oneself. It is dangerous. Only a doctor can say if one has V.D or not.
• Early treatment provides better chances of cure. Treatment today is swift, effective and safe.
• One should never take a chance but get a blood test (for syphilis) and complete examination from a doctor to make sure if one has V.D. or not.
• One does not have to stay in a hospital or leave one’s work to take treatment for V.D.
• It is always good to remember the warning signs of these diseases to take quick treatment. Delay is dangerous.
• Syphilis can be passed on to an unborn baby by the mother during pregnancy unless she is treated.
• Although gonorrhoea is not passed on to unborn babies, germs from the mother’s sex organs can cause inflammation of the eyes and possible blindness in the baby.
• A person can have syphilis and gonorrhoea at the same time. Only a doctor is competent to treat them.
• Treatment should not be discontinued just because the symptoms have disappeared. Incomplete treatment is harmful.
• Quack doctors and their medicines cannot cure V.D.
• There is no known immunity to syphilis and gonorrhoea.
• Late syphilis can be arrested. Even when the heart, brain and other internal organs are affected, treatment can prevent further damage.
• One may get cured and catch the same disease again if one has sex relations with someone who has it.
• The best prevention for V.D. is clean living, i.e., not indulging in promiscuous sex relations.
• During the present war emergency, a special duty is cast on all of us to see that the armed forces that pass through the country to the front are well protected against V.D.

It is our duty to keep Venereal Diseases under check.