Monday, November 1, 2021

AskScience AMA Series: We're Experts Here to Discuss Sexually Transmitted Infections. AUA!

AskScience AMA Series: We're Experts Here to Discuss Sexually Transmitted Infections. AUA!
Are there any animals besides humans that experience sleep walking? Specifically some of the more complex behaviors people have been known to engage in while sleep walking.
How was the first virus found?
Does hypnosis have legitimate therapeutic value (or any value)? Is it still a largely unknown field or is its value and limits well understood?
How does Prednisone increase your appetite?
If a micrometeorite hits a spaceship and creates a hole in it. How fast spaceship will lose air?

Posted: 01 Nov 2021 06:01 AM PDT

Let's talk about sex(ually transmitted infections [STIs])! We'll be here today at 2 PM ET for a discussion, organized by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), about the present and future of STIs.

STIs are an enormous health issue. According to the World Health Organization, there are approximately 1 million new infections daily worldwide, resulting in 2.3 million deaths every year. In the United States, half of new STIs occur among those ages 15-24. Meanwhile, increases in antimicrobial resistance are making it harder to treat and cure infections. STIs also represent a massive burden to the economy- in the United States alone, $16 billion is spent annually on STI-related health care costs.

But it's not all bad news! Screening programs are increasing around the world, mother to child transmission rates of diseases such as chlamydia, syphilis and HIV are decreasing, and effective treatments are continuing to be developed and delivered to patients in need. Even better, new technologies, some of which were created rapidly as part of the national COVID-19 response effort, are making it easier for people to access routine sexual health maintenance services.

We're here to answer your questions and discuss causes and cures, as well as opportunities for improvements in diagnoses and prevention strategies. We'll also discuss the emergence of new diseases and how they can be contained.

PLEASE NOTE- WE WILL NOT BE MAKING PERSONAL DIAGNOSES OR RECOMMENDING TREATMENTS.

With us today are:

Srishti Baid (u/SB313_ScienceNerd)- Doctoral Student, University of Kansas
Dr. Jose Bazan, D.O. (u/US-Nm-UClade_2015)- Infectious Diseases Physician, Associate Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University College of Medicine
Dr. Megan Crumpler, Ph.D., HCLD (u/Meganthemicro)- Laboratory Director, Orange County Public Health Laboratory
Dr. Miguel E. Quiñones-Mateu, Ph.D. (u/MQM-Reddit)- Professor, Webster Family Chair in Viral Pathogenesis, University of Otago
Dr. Barbara Van Der Pol, Ph.D., M.P.H. (u/BVDP59)- Professor of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham