GynoFiles

What are the first things that pop into your mind when you think about a potential partner? He’s so good looking. She’s so smart and funny. I can’t wait to spend some alone time with him. Maybe you are looking for that Russian bibliophile or that other owner of the 100 best philatelic nudes ever printed. However, as a gyno, I’m as concerned about your sexual health as your intellectual health. And frankly, without both, nope, there’s no staying together. So, before you get that alone time with your partner and get out a large magnifying glass to examine your…ah….. relationship and where it is going, there should be a frank discussion about sexual histories and sexual health. The couple that does STD screening together will likely stay together, let alone stay heathlier. Although you want to trust the person that you are spending time with, you need to consider the fact that many people aren’t completely open and honest about their sex lives. And, when it comes to...

In a recent post we did post a picture of herpes. But there are conditions that look very similar but are not herpes. If you see a spot, in the vaginal area, then at least come to discuss, it's probably not going to be all that helpful to take photographs, but coming in to show your provider can be invaluable. Not every condition can be diagnosed by blood tests, and some blood tests do not stay positive for long. So again, get in to see your provider. Herpes Simplex usually looks like a cluster of blisters. By the time you see your gyno the bilisters can have ruptured and at that point there is an ulcer, and often that is the uncomfortable stage as well. But not every little cluster of ulcers is herpes. One such cluster is called Aphthous Ulcers. They can even recur at intervals, and they are self limiting, both of which are the historical characteristics that patients with Herpes do report. But aphthous ulcers, althought they look like little ulcers that could be mistaken fo...

Did you have unprotected sex last night? Do you have symptoms of a new herpes infection? Well it won't be from what you contracted. Infections have to incubate before they are detected. For each STD there is a known incubation time. So unprotected sex may land you a few trips to the gyno to see what can be both prevented, and then diagnosed, and/or treated. Incubation rates of infections vary. In fact we've not really nailed why some women will test positive so quickly after catching a new infection of any particular STD. The incubation period for herpes is usually 2-10 days. But new onset of symptoms may be a new infection, or it may be a reactivation of a silent infection you never knew you had. Your gyno can help you figure this out.

Still just trying to cover the parts with a condom, and realizing how much is just not covered. A common worry is just how to best protect against STDs. Out of Johns Hopkins in 1996 some chemical engineers began working in 1996 on a vaginal treatment for herpes. Current methods for sexually transmitted diseases (STD) prophylaxis, which can be disruptive and inconvenient,  not to say, much less than 100% effective, must be used before each act of sexual intercourse, so a method that provides protection over the days, or at least many episodes of sex, hs been a goal. The Hopkins enginers began testing their theory in the mouse labs. Their mouse model of vaginally-transmitted herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) infection, using disks to release antibodies to an important part of the herpes type 2 virus itself, specifically an antibody to HSV-2 (III-174). These disks are now in development for humans, and may be the future of protection!

WE have become so worried regarding exotic infections we've not heard of, it's easy to ignore those infections that are quite common. Herpes is one of the most common infections in the adult population, and therefore in pregnancy as well. Common pregnancy infections are classified in the grouping of infections we name the TORCH or STORCH infections, it is named as this is a the mnemonic physicians use to define a set of infections we have seen in in pregnancy: Toxoplasmosis Other (syphilis) Rubella Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Herpes simplex virus (HSV) or we move the S to define syphilis at the front and leave other for "Other" like HIV, Listeria, Haverhill fevers (it's from rats, I confess, I don't think I've ever seen a case, do people really ever get bitten by rats? that's not really possible is it??!), and now Zika Virus Infection would go under this rubric as well. Toxosoplasmosis comes from an outdoor cat, and you can be tested for it. But what we ...