Natural Health and Herbal Remedies Blog

STD FUNGAL (YEST) INFECTIONS: HOW COMMON IS IT?

Any person, male or female, whether sexually active or not, can develop a genital yeast infection. There are no reliable statistics on how many people contract such infections because many people self-treat and never see a doctor about a yeast infection. Men probably have yeast infections less often than women, even though they are very common in men.

It is estimated that 75 percent of women will develop a symptomatic yeast infection at some point in their lives and that possibly 75 percent of those women will experience another symptomatic infection later. Some women have very frequent recurrent symptoms, with multiple yeast infections each year. It is believed that about 20 percent of women are colonized with yeast in the vagina. This means that even though the yeast is there, it is not causing infection or symptoms, such as itching and discharge. These women may remain symptom free or may develop symptoms later.

The following circumstances make a woman more likely to be a yeast carrier and to develop yeast infections: pregnancy, using oral contraceptive pills (particularly the higher-dose pills), using oral antibiotics (because they eliminate the normal bacteria from the vagina and allow the yeast to overgrow), and having diabetes that is poorly controlled. Douching disrupts the normal environment of the vagina and may make a woman more likely to get a yeast infection. Warm weather, too, makes yeast infection more likely. Yeast likes warm, moist areas of the body, such as the genitals, and wearing clothing that is tight and restrictive tends to make a person more likely to develop a yeast infection. Other vaginal irritation, for example from an allergic reaction to spermicide, may also allow yeast to overgrow.

Suppression of the immune system (through such medications as steroids or such infections as human immunodeficiency virus [HIV]) can also make a woman more susceptible to frequent symptomatic yeast infections. However, just because a woman develops a yeast infection does not mean she has a serious medical problem: as noted previously, some women are simply subject to recurrent symptomatic yeast infections.

Men who are not circumcised tend to have more frequent penile yeast infections than men who are, probably because the area under the foreskin provides a warm, moist area in which yeast can grow. (A fungal infection under the foreskin is called balanitis.)

*179\213\8*

RelatedPosts:

• GAMES TO RESTORE TENDERNESS – GAME 1: EXPRESSING NEED (PART 2)
• GAMES FOR POLITICALLY OR MORALLY CORRECT COUPLES – GAME 3: POLITICAL REVERSAL (PART 2)
• GAMES FOR UNATTRACTED COUPLES – INTRODUCTION
• GAMES FOR PERVERSE COUPLES – GAME 1: GENDER REVERSAL (PART 2)
• GAMES FOR OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE COUPLES – GAME 1: SCIENTIFIC SIMULTANEOUS ORGASM (PART 3)
• THE SEXUAL PSYCHOPATH: POSTPUBERTAL HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVITY
• LOCATION OF THE SEX-OFFENSE: SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLGROUNDS.
• HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVITY: AGE PREFERENCE
• PREMARITAL HETEROSEXUAL PETTING
• MISCELLANEOUS SEX OFFENDERS: ANIMAL CONTACT