Treatment Plans

If you have an STD caused by bacteria or parasites, it can be treated effectively with antibiotics or other medicines. If you have an STD caused by a virus, there is no cure, but symptoms can often be managed. Medication may help to keep the disease under control most of the time.

Chlamydia

The disease can be cured with antibiotics.

Herpes

The disease cannot be cured. Antiviral drugs such as acyclovir may help lessen the intensity of symptoms, shorten how long your outbreak lasts and reduce how often you get outbreaks. If you have an outbreak, keep the area clean and dry. Take over-the-counter pain relievers. A bath with warm water can help you feel better, too.

Human papilloma virus (HPV)

Left alone, genital warts often disappear for some people. In other cases, they eventually may develop into a fleshy, raised growth with a cauliflower-like appearance. There is no way to predict whether the warts will grow or disappear. Surgical removal of a genital wart may be curative. In other cases, the first procedure may leave HPV in deeper layers, leading to reappearance of the genital wart. Several attempts may be necessary. If you suspect you have genital warts, see a health care provider.

Treatments to remove warts include:

• Podofilox gel, which you apply to the warts.
• Imiquimod cream, which you apply to the warts.
• Chemical treatments. Your doctor uses special medications to destroy warts.
• Interferon. This is an antiviral drug that your doctor injects into the wart. The drug helps your body's immune system and interferes with the reproduction of the virus in your cells. Doctors use this if creams and gels don't work.
• Electrosurgery. This uses an electric current to burn off the warts.
• Surgery. The doctor cuts away the wart, using anesthesia that numbs the area.
• Cryotherapy. This procedure used liquid nitrogen to freeze off warts.
• Laser therapy. Use of a laser beam or intense lights to destroy the warts.

Treatments vary if you're pregnant.

Syphilis

All stages of syphilis are treated with antibiotics, usually injectable penicillin. How long you have had the disease will determine how much of the medication you need. You need to return for more testing to make sure the infection has cleared up.

Gonorrhea

The disease is easily treated with antibiotics. Make sure your partner also gets treatment.

HIV/AIDS

Antiviral drugs are given to lower the amount of virus in the body (viral load) to the point where it can no longer be detected. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the standard of care that uses multiple drugs at one time, is more effective than single drug therapy. In a HAART regimen, the drugs in "cocktail" come from different classes of antiretrovirals, each of which stops viral reproduction in different ways. When all doses are taken, these medications inhibit viral mutations. Partially treated HIV is more likely to continue to reproduce and lead to an altered form of the virus (mutation) that is resistant to certain medications. You must adhere closely to your doctor's directions for taking the medications.

Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)

PID can be cured with a combination of antibiotics. In serious cases, hospitalization and intravenous drugs (through the vein) are needed. If the infection spreads beyond the reproductive system or an abscess forms, surgery may be needed. Anti-inflammatory drugs may help reduce scarring. Left untreated, PID may worsen. Your doctor will admit you to the hospital if your treatment is not working. Make sure your partner also gets treated for the bacterial infection.

Trichomoniasis

This can be easily cured and treated with antibiotics. Often a drug called metronidazole (Flagyl®) is used.

Hepatitis B (HBV)

Most people get better on their own within six months. Rest, drink plenty of fluids and avoid alcohol. If you have HBV for longer than six months, you are considered chronically infected and may need other treatments. Interferon, adefovir and lamivudine are drugs doctors typically use to treat the virus.

If you are pregnant, you can give the HBV virus to your baby. This could lead to cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer in your newborn. If you have tested positive for HBV, your baby will need a hepatitis B vaccine, along with another shot, hepatitis B immune globulin (called HBIG), at birth. At one to two months, your baby will need a second vaccine dose, and a third dose when he or she is six months old.

Pubic lice

Pubic lice and their eggs cannot be killed by ordinary soap and water. Your doctor will probably recommend permethrin 1 percent cream rinse (NIX®), which is available over the counter. A single treatment is usually enough.

1. Wash all hair, including pubic, and use a towel to dry yourself.
2. Saturate hair with cream rinse and leave it on for 10 minutes.
3. Rinse off with water.
4. Dry with a clean towel.
5. Use a fine-tooth comb, tweezers or fingernails to remove eggs.

Pregnant women

For pregnant women, some STDs such as Chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and trichomonas can be cured with antibiotics. While genital herpes and HIV cannot be cured, antiviral medications can help reduce symptoms and protect the baby. Women who have a herpes outbreak when they deliver may need a C-section to protect the baby. Some women with HIV may get C-sections as well. Pregnant women who don't have HBV may get the HBV vaccine.

More on Sexually Transmitted Diseases

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This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.