HIV discrimination resolution introduced in Congress

New legislation was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by sponsors Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) in a bipartisan effort to modernize existing laws that help reduce discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.

House Resolution 1843 is also called the Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage and Allow Legal (REPEAL) HIV Discrimination Act. If the legislation passes, it might make it easier to fight HIV discrimination with civil and criminal discriminatory laws with state and federal reviews. 

According to the Human Rights Campaign, the existing laws were originally drafted to criminalize people who had intentionally infected others with HIV; however, many people believe that the laws have been applied to other issues beyond criminal HIV infection. Perceived HIV exposure is currently criminalized in 32 U.S. states and two U.S. territories.

The argument is that some of the behaviors in previous legislation discriminate against Americans living with HIV without merit. Sponsors of the bill want to update the laws since some individuals with this sexually transmitted disease (STD) have received disproportionate punishment despite not comitting any harmful acts.

The Human Rights Campaign also noted that knowledge of one's STD status could be used as evidence for an unfair conviction, which could dissuade many people from getting tested for HIV in the first place. Although there have been many strides to inform the public about AIDS and foster understanding for those who live with the infection, the disease still carries a significant stigma, stereotyping and discrimination. Sponsors of the bill hope that a thorough review of criminal HIV infection will help make some of these unwarranted stigmas go away. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 50,000 people are in

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Get familiar with the benefits of STD testing

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If you are sexually active with more than one partner and are not in the good habit of using protection, you are at a high risk of being infected by an STD (sexually transmitted disease). At present, STDs are becoming very common, with more and more people on a large scale being infected daily. There are a number of STDs that don’t have clear symptoms at first, for example diseases like Syphilis shows symptoms eventually, which includes the appearance of skin lesion, painless, non-itchy skin ulcerations with a clean base and sharp borders. Prevention is the better way to avoid these diseases. But, if an STD infects you, then early treatment is the necessary step to avoid complications.

There are different categories of STDs and these too have varying symptoms. The common STDs include chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, HIV, trichomoniasis, genital warts and syphilis. Chlamydia is the most common bacterial STD affecting both men and women. This disease is very difficult to diagnose because it has very few STD symptoms. As for HIV, the infection is transmitted through sexual intercourse, needle sharing or it can be through pregnancy. Syphilis is caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponemapallidum subspecies pallidum. Being an STD, the transmission is normally through sexual intercourse.


Presently, there are many STD tests available in the market and you can order them online as per your own choice depending on your signs and symptoms. An optimal and the easiest way to get sure about whether STD infects you or not, STD testing for a the most common STDs is the best suitable option. Without consulting any doctor, you can easily test for the presence of an STD. If you are searching for affordable STD testing kits without any doctor’s consultation, Std-tests-r-us is the one stop shop. They have home STD testing kits for various STDs and you can get consistent and confidential results without any trouble.

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Diagnose your Disease through Home STD Testing Kits

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Call  888-496-7939 and speak to a counselor.

Are you feeling itching, menstrual problems, abnormal urination, fever? Not right to ignore all these issues! Might be these are the symptoms of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases). STDs are a major problem not only in the USA but also in the rest of the world. These diseases can occur when two individuals are engaged in sexual activity, exchanging body fluids. Some of the widely known STDs are Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Hepatitis, Herpes, HIV, Syphilis, Combos. If you are sexually active and had sex with more than one partner, there is a 90% chances that STDs will affect you.

The dangerous things about STDs are that they can be asymptomatic. This means that you could be carrying infection without knowing and might pass it down to your partner through sexual intercourse. Unprotected sex of any form – oral sex, vaginal, fluid exchange can spread STDs and can cause severe problems if not treated at the right time. Every category that falls under STDs differs by their symptoms. Some common symptoms are:

Redness in genital area
Pimples on faces, and rashes in vaginal area
Abnormal discharge from penis or vagina
Pain during intercourse
Pain during urinationAre you feeling shy of purchasing STD testing kit off the market or consulting doctor? Not to Worry, Std-tests-r-us is one of the best destinations if you are looking for STD testing kits. They have home STD testing kits for different categories of STD and you can get reliable results without any hassle. Save your extra money while purchasing the Chlamydia home test kit and Gonorrhea home test kit together at Std-tests-r-us. Get sure about your illness by having top-quality STD testing kit in a short span of time.

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DOCTORS CONSULT

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Consult with a doctor on your time.

Private online testing is a great convenience, but must be authorized, counseled, and treated by licensed physicians with appropriate clinical experience. You have the right to professional medical care. We feel so strongly about it that we include a doctor phone consultation for anyone who has a positive test result, excluding positive Herpes 1 (HSV-1) tests.

How does the phone consultation with a doctor work?

When your results are ready, you'll receive an email with login instructions. If your test results are negative, you'll be able to view your results immediately. If you test positive, a doctor will review them with you by phone, excluding Herpes 1 (HSV-1) tests. You can choose to have a physician call you back, usually within 24 hours, or make an appointment for a time that's convenient for you. The doctor will explain your results, ask followup questions, and provide counsel on treatment and further testing, if necessary.

Can the doctor write a prescription for medication if I need it?

Yes, the doctor may write a prescription to treat certain STDs. The decision to write a prescription for medication is based on a variety of factors and is always at the sole discretion of the doctor.

I'm not sure which tests are right for me. How should I decide?

The fastest and easiest way to find out which tests are right for you is to use our Test Recommender online. This short questionnaire is based on the CDC's current guidelines for screening.

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Chlamydia Treatment

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Call  877-589-4745  and speak to a counselor.

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Chlamydia can be cured.

Once you are diagnosed with chlamydia, the good news is that is can be easily and effectively cured with antibiotics. But not just any old antibiotics. The antibiotics most often prescribed to kill the bacteria that causes chlamydia are azithromycin or doxycycline. Your doctor will either have you take a single (oral) dose of azithromycin or seven days' worth of doxycycline. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) also recommends that doctors can prescribe other oral antibiotics for seven days including erythromycin, ofloxacin or levofloxacin. Talk to you doctor about which option might be best for you.

Any alternatives to antibiotics?

Not really. That is, there aren’t other treatments with an over 90% success rate of killing the bacteria that cause chlamydia like antibiotics.

If I get chlamydia once, can I get it again?

Once cured, the chlamydia infection should clear within a week, but you can be re-infected with chlamydia. Being cured doesn’t mean being immune. You can get it again. That’s why sexual partners should be treated at the same time so that the untreated partner still harboring the bacterial infection doesn’t reinfect the treated partner.

People treated for chlamydia are often treated for gonorrhea at the same time.

Since people infected with chlamydia are often also infected with gonorrhea, doctors usually recommend treatments for both infections at once. This involves another antibiotic: either cefixine orally in pill or liquid form; or ceftriaxone as a single shot.

Pregnant women can take antibiotics too.

Always consult with your doctor, but chlamydia can be cured during pregnancy with antibiotics. You may not be comfortable taking antibiotics during your first term, but it’s during the first term when it’s most important to protect the fetus from the infection. Chlamydia is the leading cause of prenatal (before baby’s birth) pneumonia and conjunctivitis (pink eye) in newborns according to the CDC. These problem can lead to infant mortality (death) or blindness. Chlamydia can also be passed from mother to baby at birth. Your doctor will help you weigh the risks involved to come up with a treatment that makes you feel most comfortable. The oral antibiotic recommended for pregnant women are azithromycin, erythromycin, or sometimes amoxicillin.

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Chlamydia Testing

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Call  877-589-4745 and speak to a counselor.

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Tell me about the chlamydia test. Will I have to get swabbed?

The Chlamydia Nucleic Acid Amplification (NAA) Test is a molecular test highly recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for its accuracy. There’s no swabbing - all you do is pee into a cup. This test is based on amplification of the DNA that is found in Chlamydia trachomatis. The advantage of molecular tests is that they are generally more sensitive and specific than conventional culture (swabs) and can therefore identify more positive specimens.

What does the test result mean?

A positive test shows an active chlamydia infection. Treatment with a course of antibiotics will kill the infection.

A negative test means only that there is no sign of infection at the time of the test. New studies have shown that if you are sexually active, you should get tested for chlamydia and other STDs before every new sexual relationship. Re-infection is very common.

If you are infected, your sexual partner(s) should also be tested and treated as well.

Once cured, you should be tested again in 3 months.

This is called a "test of cure." Even though you were treated for chlamydia, you could be at risk for re-infection, especially if your partner has not been treated. The best way to be 100% sure that you haven’t been re-infected by a partner who may have failed to get properly treated is to get tested again.

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Chlamydia Risks & Complications

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How is chlamydia spread?

Men and women can get chlamydia by having vaginal sex, anal sex, or (less commonly) oral sex. The bacteria that causes chlamydia attacks the moist, mucous membranes it comes in contact with including inside the penis, vagina, rectum (anus), throat and eyelids. It's also possible for a mother to spread chlamydia to her baby during delivery, causing pneumonia or a serious eye infection.

How can I prevent getting or spreading chlamydia?

While unpopular, not having sex at all is the only way to be 100% safe from getting or spreading chlamydia. If you are sexually active, a latex condom is the best way to protect yourself and your partner. And the best way for women to decrease their chance of infection when having sex with other women is to properly use a latex dental dam.

What are the complications from untreated chlamydia?

If untreated, chlamydia infections can evolve into reproductive problems and other health complications for both men and women. According to the CDC, 4 out of 10 women with untreated chlamydia get pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). PID is an infection that attacks the uterus and fallopian tubes, leading to the possibility of infertility or life-threatening ectopic pregnancies. It’s estimated that 100,000 women become infertile each year due to PID. You might wonder -- is this because women ignore chlamydia don't get it treated? Not exactly. It's estimated that 75% of women with chlamydia don’t know they have it. This is why getting a chlamydia test is so important. In more rare cases, untreated chlamydia can lead to chronic pelvic pain or cystitis (inflammation of the urinary bladder).

Men with untreated chlamydia can also result in complications.

While rare, untreated chlamydia can lead to the infection spreading to other parts of the penis, prostate, and testicles causing pain and inflammation. And in even more rare cases the infection can spread to the epididymis (tube that caries sperm from the testes), causing pain, fever, and sterility.

If you have chlamydia, tell your partner(s).

Chlamydia is contagious. If you have chlamydia, then chances are your sexual partner may as well. You should both be treated at the same time so that you don’t re-infect each other, or anyone else. And since tests can’t tell you how long you’ve been infected, you should tell anyone you’ve recently had sexual contact with that you have been diagnosed so they can get tested too. The CDC recommends that men and women with chlamydia inform anyone they've had sex with 60 days prior to their diagnosis. Other health agencies suggest you tell partners going back as many as 6 months since chlamydia can to undetected for a long time.

All pregnant women should be tested for chlamydia.

Chlamydia is the leading cause of prenatal (before baby’s birth) pneumonia and conjunctivitis (pink eye) in newborns according to the CDC. These problem can lead to infant mortality (death) or blindness. Chlamydia can also be passed from mother to baby at birth. While at 100,000 annual cases of pregnant women with chlamydia in the U.S. only places it 4th on the list of expecting moms with STDs, the serious effects on babies makes it one of the most important to screen for and cure.

HIV and chlamydia

Women with chlamydia have a greater chance of getting HIV than women without the infection. Some studies have shown that women with chlamydia are 5 times more likely to get HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, if exposed. In general, someone who has one STD is at risk for infection with other STDs, including HIV infection. Why? One main reason is that chlamydia and other STDs that inflame mucosal tissue make one's more vulnerable to HIV infection, if they have sexual contact with an infected person.

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