Teens - Date/Acquaintance Rape
WOMEN’S MEDICAL CONCERNS
Testing for sexually – transmitted disease (STD’s) after forced oral, anal, and/or vaginal intercourse is essential. You may have an STD and have no symptoms. An examination should include checking for AIDS and the following diseases.
DISEASE SYMPTOMS IN WOMEN
Genital Herpes
Symptoms – usually develop within a few days Outbreak usually lasts 2 weeks.
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First symptoms are itching or throbbing in the genital area. Blister – like, painful, itchy lesions after contact with an infected individual and swollen lymph nodes in the groin area develop soon after. |
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Genital Warts
Symptoms – may develop within 2 weeks or up to years after contact. |
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Genital warts are soft, pink, flat, or raised growths that appear singly or in clusters on the external genitals or rectum. These irritating and itchy growths can also appear on the vaginal walls and on the cervix. |
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AIDS
Symptoms – develop months to years after contact. |
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Symptoms such as prolonged or episodic fatigue and infections may signal a test for AIDS. |
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Syphilis
Symptoms – Primary stage: approximately 3 weeks later |
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Lesion called a chancre develops on the cervix or where the organism entered the body. At first the lesion is painless. It is raised above the skin and has a hard base. It then develops into a painful ulcerated sore.
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| Secondary stage: 6 weeks to several months after infection |
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Lesions of the skin on trunk, arms, and legs, will appear. They may be either discolored, flat spots or small, solid, raised bumps. Lesions then heal. |
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| Tertiary stage: from the point when the lesions heal through lifetime. |
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Lesions recur, but are more tumor – like masses that can invade the central nervous and cardiovascular systems. When this happens, paralysis and death often result. |
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Gonorrhea
Symptoms – 2 to 21 days later |
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Symptoms are not always present. If they do develop, initial symptoms are abdominal or pelvic pain, vaginal discharge, and painful or difficult urination. |
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Chlamydia
Symptoms -- |
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Many people do not have symptoms. Infection is similar to gonorrhea but usually has milder symptoms. |
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Trichomoniasis
Symptoms – 1 to 4 weeks later
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Infection results in vaginal itching, burning, and a profuse, smelly discharge that may be frothy or bloody. |
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Pubic lice (crabs)
Symptoms – 4 to 5 weeks later |
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Small insects live in the hairs of the genital and anal area. Intense itching and crusty rash may be present. |
FACTS ABOUT
SEXUAL ASSAULT AND AIDS
Sexual assault is a terrifying experience, which leaves the victim feeling hurt, angry, humiliated, and violated. Added to the trauma of the assault is the fear of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) and AIDS. Although the likelihood of pregnancy or contracting a disease, including AIDS is low with one act of forced sexual contact, we advise all victims to seek prompt medical attention following an assault to completely rule out the possibility. The following data from the San Francisco Forensic AIDS Project provides facts about sexual assault and AIDS:
~~~ The chances of contracting AIDS from one incident of forced sexual contact are very low,
even if the assailant has the AIDS virus.
~~~ There is no evidence suggesting that sexual offenders as a group are at any higher risk than men in the general population for carrying AIDS.
~~~ The likelihood of an assailant having AIDS is increased if the assailant is bisexual, promiscuous or an intravenous drug user.
~~~ Although there is only a small chance of contracting AIDS from a sexual assault, it is important to seek follow-up testing. It is possible to be tested as early as three months after the assault, however more accurate tests results can be obtained with testing at a six month to one year interval after the assault.
~~~ Factors that might make a victim somewhat more susceptible to contracting AIDS would be menstruating at the time of the assault, forced intercourse resulting in vaginal or anal tearing, anal intercourse, repeated intercourse or if a victim has an STD at the time of the assault.
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MN Rural AIDS Action Network (RAAN) |
| MN AIDS Project |
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