STPs: Sexually transmitted poisons

Yikes! It’s real. And here we thought we only had to worry about… everything else. Apparently STPs are tricky because docs don’t have them high on the list as a factor, and many patients don’t expect their ills to come from sexually transmitted poisons. Plus, an STP is generally passed between pairs already bonded via fluids and already-established unprotected sex. I could see this potentially causing riffs between monogamous couples, at least until the cause of the medical issue is identified. On the Illinois Poison Center Blog (via MeFi) is Spring Fever and Poisonous Passion (aka Sexually Transmitted Poisons). Gotta love those hot toxicology geeks. Snip:

(…) Other important types of medications can also concentrate in reproductive fluids such as hormones, steroids and antibiotics (including some very common ones: penicillins, cephalosporins, and sulfas). There are a lot of people with significant allergies to those antibiotics. It could be a serious risk for someone with life-threatening anaphylaxis to an antibiotic to have unprotected sex with a partner who is on that antibiotic.

Some of the more mundane (if we can call it that) sexually transmitted poisonings occur with simple skin-to-skin transfer of drugs or poisons from one partner directly to the other, or from contamination of bed linens.

Some examples:

* A couple went camping, and after answering the call of nature, the wife inadvertently wiped with a poison oak leaf. The couple was inspired by the beauty of the woods shortly thereafter and the wife unwittingly transferred the poison oak from her genital region to his.
* A woman developed significant hirsutism (excessive, abnormal growth of hair in strange places). Turns out her husband was using a testosterone gel medication which had been transferred to her during intimate contact.
* Dermal nitroglycerin cream can also be transferred to a partner. It works by dilating blood vessels and one of its side effects is a headache. Quite an ironic example, don’t you think? The true killer of passion!
* A woman developed vaginitis and was put on corticosteroids by her doctor for that condition. She continued to have sex with her husband. Turns out he had a fungal infection, and that was what caused HER symptoms. So the steroids from her were making his fungal infection worse, which then made her rash worse and so on.
* A woman developed significant skin irritation/dermatitis in her genital area courtesy of her husband, who worked with nickel dust and didn’t wash up or change his undies before bedtime. (… read more, ipcblog.org)