- NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - Men who've had a bout of urethritis -- genital inflammation often
acquired through sex -- are no better than first-timers at recognizing
the signs of the condition or seeking care, according to researchers.
-
- What's more, their study found, these men were just as
likely as others to keep having sex once they noticed their symptoms and
realized they could be due to a sexually transmitted disease.
-
- Going into the study, lead author Dr. James M. Sizemore
told Reuters Health, the hope was that men who had experienced urethritis
before would recognize symptoms, curb their sexual activity and get care
more quickly.
-
- That turned out not to be the case.
-
- "In short," said Sizemore, a researcher at
the University of Alabama at Birmingham, "these men did not seem to
do a good job at altering their health-seeking behavior."
-
- The public health implications of this are "huge,"
according to Sizemore, because it jeopardizes the health of both infected
men and their partners.
-
- Urethritis is an inflammation of the urethra, the tube
that drains urine from the bladder. Often, the inflammation arises from
a sexually transmitted infection such as gonorrhea or chlamydia. In men,
symptoms include pain during urination or sex, discharge from the penis,
and itching, tenderness or swelling. Women also may have abnormal discharge
and pain during urination, as well as pelvic or abdominal pain.
-
- With proper treatment, the condition usually clears up,
but there is the potential for complications. Men may end up with infections
of the bladder, kidneys or prostate, while in women, urethritis can lead
to pelvic inflammatory disease, fertility problems or pregnancy complications.
-
- For the new study, Sizemore and his colleagues surveyed
466 men seeking treatment at a public STD clinic in Birmingham. Most were
young, black and single, and 64 percent reported a history of urethritis.
-
- The researchers found that among men diagnosed with urethritis
at the study visit, those who'd had the condition before waited just as
long as other men before seeking treatment -- five to six days after their
symptoms first emerged. They were also just as likely as other men to continue
having sex after realizing their symptoms were a potential sign of an STD,
though most men in both groups said they had not had sex since that time
-
- Still, risky sexual behavior was as common, if not more,
among men with a history of urethritis, Sizemore and his colleagues report
in the April issue of the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
-
- Condom use was "uniformly low," the researchers
note, with nearly three-quarters of men in both groups saying they hadn't
used a condom the last time they had sex. Men with a history of urethritis
were more likely to have used alcohol or drugs during their last sexual
encounter.
-
- Some men in the study, the researchers speculate, might
not have taken their symptoms seriously because their previous bouts of
urethritis had been cured with a few pills.
-
- Sizemore said the findings show that public health specialists
need to do a better job of educating high-risk patients about the importance
of recognizing symptoms quickly and getting prompt treatment.
-
- SOURCE - Sexually Transmitted Diseases, April 2004.
-
-
- Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited
without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable
for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon.
- C
|
