Female Speaker: Maryallene Klingensmith knew she was taking a chance with her boyfriend. He told her, he had genital herpes, but had no symptoms. So they briefly discussed his condition and continued to have unprotected sex.
Maryallene Klingensmith: I think I knew I was taking a risk. I didn't know that you could catch it when your partner had no symptoms.
Female Speaker: Maryallene found out the hardway that even without symptoms STDs can be transmitted from one person to another. Eventually, she put an end to that relationship. But three years ago, she began a new relationship; she worried about how to tell him of her condition.
Maryallene Klingensmith: There's something I would like to tell you or I would like to talk about and I was little bit nervous, but I just I know this man, I mean I knew him very well and I knew that he would appreciate the honesty and I just told him.
Female Speaker: Not everyone is this forthcoming; what's more if many people don't even know they're infected? Barbara Wilkop's story began fourteen years ago with the birth of her second child Jimmy. At first, he was a healthy newborn, but not long after his birth. Barbara noticed sores beginning to appear on his abdomen and immediately alerted her doctor. She was told to take the baby to the emergency room. The situation was critical.
Barbara Wilkop: The pediatrician walked into the room and took one look at the baby and walked out, and immediately called the hospital for direct admittance and it was just a few hours later that, we were having Jimmy baptized because they said he had about 33% chance of dying at that point.
Female Speaker: Devastated and confused Barbara could not understand how this happened. Today, Jimmy is still living at home. But at 14, he has the cognitive ability of a three-year-old and is unable to speak.
Barbara Wilkop: You have just so many mixed feelings, you're doing a lot of bargaining with God just let him live I'll take him anyway, I can get him just let him live and it wasn't until later on in the whole scenario that you started wondering how did my baby get this disease?
Female Speaker: Incredibly, Barbara had no idea she was infected with genital herpes at the time of Jimmy's delivery. But eventually, she found out that she and her ex-husband both had the disease. Neither one had had symptoms. She was now determined to learn whatever she could about her son's condition.
Barbara Wilkop: I immediately started flying everywhere around the country to find out how I could help this child.
Female Speaker: Despite his limitations, Barbara feels that her son teaches her lessons about life everyday.
Barbara Wilkop: I think one of the most important things that my sister said, it's not only what Jimmy has done to our lives, but for our lives of awakening us to other people.
Female Speaker: Barbara's story is rare. If a woman knows she's infected with herpes, she can take steps to prevent the transmission of the disease to her baby.
Female Speaker: Dr. Gloria Bachmann is the associate dean of women's health at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Dr. Gloria Bachmann: Women who have Herpes infections are often concerned about pregnancy and delivery because they know they can transmit the Herpes infection to their baby, especially if they have an active infection and deliver vaginally. However, the good news is if they don't have an active infection or if the infection is localized so that it can be covered then a vaginal delivery is still possible.
Female Speaker: Like herpes, most STDs are A-symptomatic. That's why they're referred to as the silent epidemic. There are actually more than 20 different diseases that are sexually transmitted. Women who are sexually active should be aware that if left untreated, STD's could result in lifelong consequences.
Dr. Gloria Bachmann: When I got the women about sexually transmitted diseases, their first worry is HIV. However, another major problem in women is Chlamydial infections, which is another sexually transmitted disease that can go relatively unnoticed for long periods of time in a woman's life and is only evident when she tries to get pregnant and realizes that she has old tubal scarring from a previous Chlamydial infection.
Female Speaker: There are other serious consequences for untreated sexually transmitted diseases. Hepatitis B, can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, primary liver cancer, and even death. Gonorrhea can cause pelvic inflammatory disease and tubal scarring, which is a major cause of infertility. The human papilloma-virus or HPV may lead to cervical cancer. And, of course, HIV can lead to AIDS. If left untreated, it too can also be passed along from a mother to child. Doctors say it's important that all sexually active women be tested for these diseases, if they feel they might be at risk. Doctor Joyce Schwartz is the Chief Laboratory Officer for a national diagnostic company.
Dr. Joyce Schwartz: There are quite a few numbers of blood tests, there's a test for herpes, herpes type 1 and type 2 can be tested from the blood. HIV is a blood test also, we can test on the urine for gonorrhea and for Chlamydia and also from a cervical swab we can look for gonorrhea and Chlamydia also.
Female Speaker: Women who do have a sexually transmitted disease should know it's not the end of their sexual lives. There are therapies and treatments available today that may not cure the condition, but certainly can make it easier to live with them.
Maryallene Klingensmith: How many of us have not made errors in judgment in our sex lives? I don't know very many people and if you're going to spend years and years beating yourself up over it, that's a lot of lost time and that's a lot of time that you could have spent doing a lot of fun things.
Female Speaker: The bottom line, see your doctor, get tested, and get treated.
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