ABSTRACT

This study was designed to investigate knowledge, and attitude of secondary school students towards sexually transmitted diseases in Nsukka Education Zone. The study was guided by five research questions. The population consisted of 2931 students, which were made up of all the students in the day schools from twenty three secondary schools in Nsukka Education Zone. The sample was 220, Ten senior secondary schools were randomly selected from twenty three senior secondary school in Nsukka Education zone. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The data presentation was done in order of research questions, and the major findings were as follows; the students have high level of knowledge of sexual transmitted diseases in Nsukka Education Zone. The students are knowledgeable on modes of transmission of STDs. Gender has influence on the level of knowledge of the students on signs and symptoms of STDs. Gender also influences on students’ attitude towards those living with STDs. Gender has a significance influence on students’ attitude towards those living with STDs in Nsukka Education Zone. The recommendations based on the findings of this research study were; Health workers should create awareness in secondary schools on the sexually transmitted diseases to help the students avoid them. Seminar and workshops should be organized, awareness through Pamplets and leaflets to intensify effort in assisting the students know the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases. More control methods for the STDs should be brought to the knowledge of the students.    

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

      Sexually transmitted disease (STD) is any disease (such as syphilis, gonorrhea, AIDS, or a genital form of herpes simplex) that is usually or often transmitted from person to person by direct sexual contact. It may also be transmitted from a mother to her child before or at birth or, less frequently, may be passed from person to person in nonsexual contact such as in kissing, in tainted blood transfusions, or in the use of unsanitized hypodermic syringes   ( Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008). In a similar thought, Myless, (2001) averred that sexually transmitted diseases are those diseases caused by variety of organisms which are capable of being transmitted sexually. However, Achalu (1993) defined sexually transmitted diseases as group of infectious diseases in which the main form of spread is by sexual activity or contact. The researcher defines sexually transmitted diseases as diseases that can be contacted through unprotected sexually activities.

Sexually transmitted diseases usually affect initially the genitals, the reproductive tract, the urinary tract, the oral cavity, the anus, or the rectum but may mature in the body to attack various organs and systems. Tertiary syphilis, or paresis, for example, may affect skin, bones, the central nervous system, the heart, the liver, or other organs. Persons infected by an AIDS virus may remain outwardly healthy for years before the disease takes hold within the immune system.  Sexually transmitted diseases have a long history. The best known of these diseases, syphilis, is caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. Syphilis was first widely reported by European writers in the 16th century, and some medical historians assume that it was imported into Europe by explorers returning from the New World. Other authorities believe that syphilis is of ancient origin and may at one time have been mistakenly identified as leprosy. At any rate, syphilis first became widely recognized and reported about the year 1500, when a virtual epidemic swept Europe (Billings, 1998).  Urethritis is the infection and inflammation of the urethra (the passage that transmits urine from the bladder to the exterior of the body). Most cases of urethritis are in fact sexually transmitted. Urethritis that is caused by the gonococcus bacterium (Neisseria gonorrhoeae) is called gonorrhea   and is one of the best-known sexually transmitted diseases. Gonorrhea was named by the Greek physician Galen and is thought to have been known to the ancient Chinese and Egyptians.   A disease that became especially widespread beginning in the 1960s and ’70s was genital herpes. Herpes infections are significant not only in terms of the discomfort they cause but also for the potentially serious illness that might occur in infants born to mothers with genital herpes infections. A variety of treatments have been used for genital herpes, but none have been entirely satisfactory.( Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008)

The sexually transmitted disease that caused perhaps the greatest alarm in the late 20th century was acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. From the time of its first clear identification in 1981, AIDS spread rapidly, with reported cases rising at a high rate, especially among homosexuals and intravenous drug users in the United States and Western Europe and among heterosexuals in tropical Africa. The high mortality rate from AIDS and the absence of a cure or vaccine against the disease had a sobering effect on sexually permissive societies.   Nearly a score of other sexually transmitted diseases are known. All have reasonably effective drug cures. About half of all cases of urethritis that are not gonorrhea are chlamydia, which is caused by an infection with Chlamydia trachomas. The latter bacterium is also the infecting agent in pelvic inflammatory disease and in still another sexually transmitted disease, lymphogranuloma venereum.  The cause for the remaining 50 percent of nongonococcal urethral infections is not known; no organism has been definitely related (Wenger, 1995). Trichomoniasis is an infection of the urogenital tract caused by a protozoan, Trichomonas vaginalis; males usually have no symptoms with this infection, and only a portion of infected females have a vaginal discharge.  Candidiasis (yeast infection) is caused by Candida albicans (sometimes called Monilia albicans), which produces in women a thick, whitish vaginal discharge and causes irritation and itching in the genital area. Males may have irritation of the glans or skin of the penis. Because this yeast is ubiquitous in the environment, these infections are not always sexually acquired. Warts occurring in the genital areas are caused by certain types of papilloma viruses, and these types of warts can be transmitted to other people by sexual contact. Most often, genital warts are nothing more than a nuisance, but occasionally they can become so numerous or so large as to interfere with urination, bowel movements, or vaginal delivery. There is also mounting evidence that papilloma viral infections of the genital tract are a factor in the development of cancer of the cervix and possibly of the genitals themselves.