Many women have this myth of "toilet infection". Get some facts and reliable information to take good care of yourself and your health.
This article HAS to be begun by dismantling several widely spread in Nigeria myths. One of them is present in the very name of “toilet infection”. Certainly, this is not a medical term to be used. A better one would be “vaginal infections” or even STI (sexually transmitted infections).
Surely the toilet seat (especially the one in public toilets) is a pretty dirty item. It contains many bacteria and you have no way of knowing what women have used it prior to you. So, it’s not a good idea to sit on those seats without wiping them out or cleaning. Or, which is even better, using the roller toilet seat covers.
Here is what you need to know: getting infected with a “toilet disease” by just sitting on a public toilet seat is unlikely. It is not probable! There are certain small chances of “catching” an infection there, but they are virtually non-existent. So, before we move to answering the question: how can toilet infection be cured, let’s get more information.
Why vaginal infections cannot be gotten from the lavatory seat:
Only under 3 percent of all STIs or vaginal diseases are transmitted through domestic items;
In most cases there is no straight contact between the toilet seat and mucosa;
Most bacteria cannot survive outside the human body;
They need direct mucosa to mucosa contact to get transmitted.
These are just few reasons to mention why there is no such thing as a toilet disease. However, there is one thing to point out. There are more odds of you catching “toilet disease” from your hands touching the seat, then by sitting up on it.
If you touch the seat, do not clean your hands and rub your eyes or touch the food you eat, you can get infected. Some diseases, such as milk thrush or herpes can develop in the mouth or on the eyes mucosa as well. Still, there are equal chances of “catching” them, touching someone’s smartphone or a door handle. The same would happen if you handle your private body parts with dirty hands!
READ ALSO: What is urinary tract infection – 5 tips for Nigerians.
Why “toilet infection” is a myth?
So, why is this term used at all and how come many women believe they got those candida or genital herpes and other infections from the toilet seats? In many cases it is a lie that suits us all. Being diagnosed with STI is not a nice thing to occur. Women can be ashamed of the fact. They need a way of escape and “toilet infection” myth provides just that.
Certainly, vaginal infections and STIs can be transmitted in other ways, but sexual. However, few women are aware of the facts and the ways. So, they find a great excuse in blaming the toilet seat for getting them infected.
Some ladies do not like to consider the fact their men might be the ones to blame for their health problems. Cheating is a hard thing to cope with and no mistake. Let’s summarize the reasons:
Socially accepted lie
Low level of information on STI and vaginal infections
Unwillingness to suspect infidelity
What is hiding under the “toilet infections” term?
It could be a diversity of things. Here are few to mention:
urinary tract infection
STI
fungal infection
HIV/AIDS
How can toilet infection be cured? – 5 steps
Symptoms
It might all start with the symptoms. Some of them may include vaginal discharge, foul smell, itching of private parts, redness, sense of discomfort in the lower part of the tammy, pain, etc. If you get one or several of these signs, the best thing to do is to set an appointment with a gynecologist.
It is highly advised for women to pay a visit to their physician at least once in 6 months. Do not try to deal away with the symptoms by taking pain killers or doing douching.
What you can do is to end douching if you are doing it regularly. Few women know how harmful it can be. Stop using soap for the washing of the private body parts. Stop using any chemicals, wet napkins, odorants, etc. for the private hygiene.
Diagnosis
Any treatment should be preceded by diagnosis. A doctor should run a range of tests on you. It all starts with the regular medical examination. They may do blood tests or do the endocervical scraping. They examine the tissues and see, if there are any bacteria, viruses or fungi in there. They may also do vaginoscopy, which means they may use special camera to provide visual examination of vagina. Another way to do it is by ultrasound. Any treatment for toilet infection can be started only after getting the tests’ results. Unfortunately not all the women in Nigeria can access the most modern examination methods. Still, you should at least try to visit a good clinician and get consultation.
Medical treatment
Vaginitis can be caused by many by the increase of bad germs or rapid increase of the number of some kinds of innate to vagina bacteria. Basically it is a disbalance of bacterial life in vagina. Some women believe that a clean vagina is the one with no bacteria in it. That is not true. The difficulties start, when bad bacteria outnumber the good ones or the allowable level of them. It can be caused by the slow work of immune system, by getting bacteria from another person (most commonly through sexual contact, medical procedures), or by certain things you do. Regular use of soap or douching can wash out or kill the entire good germ population and lead to the increase of bad ones.
In this case you should eliminate those reasons get adequate treatment. Bacteria are killed by antibiotics. At this, if you got infected from your regular sexual partner both of you need to get treatment. The antibiotic is chosen based on bacteria sensitivity test results. Another reason of bacterial vaginitis is uncontrolled or lengthy use of antibiotics, which kill all the good bacteria.
Fungal infection (Candida) These are treated with oral drugs or with vaginal suppositories or creams. Again, both sexual partners have to be treated, otherwise they would keep on infecting each other.
Viral vaginitis One of the widely spread viruses is papilloma (HPV). There are the drug treatments for it and in some cases surgery is required.
Bacterial vaginitis
Caused by bacteria (small ogranisms) that enter your organs and lead to infection, inflammation and a range of problems. Always should be treated with antibiotics.
Medical procedures
Such consequences of vaginitis as cervical erosion can be treated by cautery with lase, electrocoagulation or cryocauterization. These treatments have to be prescribed and carried out by professional doctors. Otherwise, they may have severe side effects.
Checkup
Now you know how can toilet infection be treated, but after each treatment more tests need to be done. This way you can find out if the treatment was efficient. So, pay another visit to your doctor and get checked up. So, how can various toilet infections be cured?
First of all we know there is no such a thing as “toilet infection” and the proper name would be “vaginal infections” or in some cases STI. They cannot be cured by home remedies and medical treatment is needed.
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