Sexual behavior and sexually transmitted diseases in street-based female sex workers in Rajshahi City, Bangladesh. We analyzed the sexual behavior and sexually transmitted diseases STDs of street-based female sex workers SFSWs of Rajshahi city and examined their socio-demographic profiles. Among these SFSWs, Illiterate and comparatively older SFSWs who spent very little money for health purposes, had larger numbers of children, and used condoms inconsistently were observed to be at higher risk of STDs.
These results observed with bivariate analysis were also confirmed by logistic regression analysis. Sexually transmitted diseases STDs can be painful, irritating, unbearable, and life threatening. More than 25 STDs have been identified, and they occur most commonly in sexually-active teenagers and young adults, especially those with multiple sex partners [1]. Most STDs cause relatively harmless diseases, producing few or no symptoms. However, some produce persistent and symptomatic or minimally symptomatic disease.
Some people carry the disease for days or weeks, while others carry the disease for longer periods, even for life. During this time, an infected individual or carrier can spread the disease. In persistent infection, the pathogen evades detection by the immune system and remains fairly inactive, causing no overt disease. However, certain triggers can reactivate latent pathogens [2]. In some cases, reactivated disease is symptomatic; in others, it is overt; and in still others, severe and even fatal.
Complications of STD infection include pelvic inflammatory disease PID and inflammation of the cervix in women, inflammation of the urethra and inflammation of the prostate in men, and fertility and reproductive system problems in both sexes. Possible consequences for an infant infected while in the womb or during birth include stillbirth, blindness, and permanent neurological damage.
Consequently, STDs pose an enormous burden in many countries as a direct result of their effects on reproductive and child health and indirectly by facilitating sexual transmission of HIV infection [3].
