STIs can occur in other places other than your genitals

1. STIs can happen in other places other than your genitals

Some people only think to get tested for STIs when something feels wrong in their private parts. However, you should be looking in other places too. And the clincher? You can even get these STIs without having sex.

On your face

What people think of as cold sores around the mouth is usually herpes. Other than down there, it can also appear on your lips, tongue, and nose. The worst part? It has no cure. Once you have herpes, you will always have herpes. You can take medications to shorten flare ups and to avoid spreading it to others.

In your eyes

If you have been having a mysterious eye infection lately, there is a chance it could be an STI. Many STIs also cause eye infections, such as herpes, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis. They cause pain, swelling, redness, and discharge from the eyes.

2. Supplements are mostly useless

A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology has revealed that supplements like multivitamin pills, vitamin C, vitamin D, and calcium supplements are virtually useless. The study revealed that while they probably won’t harm you, they are not beneficial either.

The exception is folic acid and B vitamins, which were shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Other discoveries were that zinc may shorten the effects of a cold, but surprisingly, vitamin C does not.

However, if you are deficient in Vitamin D, supplements may be useful for you. Overall, the study concluded that you are better off getting your vitamins from healthy servings of less processed plant foods, including vegetables, fruits, and nuts.

3. DEPO PROVERA INCREASES the risk of HIV transmission

There has always been debates on the risks and benefits of Depo-Provera, an injectable hormonal contraceptive. Experiments carried out by Stanford University with female mice uncovered how Depo-Provera, may promote HIV transmission.

“We found that treating humanised mice with Depo-Provera made their genital tissue more permeable to immune cells called leukocytes. This increase in permeability likewise made it easier for HIV-infected leukocytes to invade genital tissue and cause systemic infection,” wrote Thomas L. Cherpes, Assistant Professor of Comparative Medicine, Stanford University.

That means that women on Depo-Provera may be at a higher risk of getting infected with HIV through unprotected sex. However, this susceptibility was eliminated in mice treated with Depo-Provera and Premarin, a vaginal estrogen cream prescribed to menopausal women.

That means that contraceptives releasing progestin and estrogen may be able to counteract this effect.These are not conclusive studies as more clinical studies are taking place, but it may be prudent to use this information while choosing your contraceptives.

4. A brain cancer vaccine may be coming soon

Patients with glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of primary brain tumour, whose average survival time is 12-18 months, and metastatic ovarian cancer, may soon find relief from their ailment and have their lives extended by years.

A vaccine is in development, with the first patient having received it with successful results. The therapy is used to treat patients with solid tumors, and works by using a patient’s own immune cells to fight cancer.

The vaccine uses the patient’s immune cells to create a vaccine that boosts the immune system’s response to cancer cells. According to BBC, which reported the success results of the first patient in Europe to receive the treatment, what happened for that patient is that the surgeons removed as much of the tumour as possible, and it was then incubated in a lab alongside specialist immune cells taken from the blood.

This was to teach the cells to recognise the tumour. The resulting personalised vaccine was injected into his arm, with the hope that the cells would train others in the immune system to seek out and destroy the cancer.

In a similar way, a personalized vaccine is developed for every patient that receives the therapy. It may be a while before the vaccine is available worldwide, as trials are still ongoing.