Q.'Incidents of STDs are very high among the age group of 15-24 years.'
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STD Prevention Methods — A First Look
Think of your body like a house. You lock the doors and windows to keep out unwanted visitors. Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) are infections that can enter the body through sexual contact — and prevention is about building those "locks" before any risk arises.
What Are STDs and Why Prevention Matters
STDs (also called STIs — Sexually Transmitted Infections) are infections passed from one person to another during sexual activity. They include diseases like HIV, syphilis, gonorrhoea, herpes, and hepatitis B. Some can be cured with treatment; others, like HIV, cannot be cured but can be managed. The key point: prevention is far better than cure, because many STDs can cause long-term health problems — infertility, organ damage, or even death — and some can be passed from a mother to her baby during pregnancy or childbirth.
The NCERT textbook emphasises that prevention is the most effective strategy against STDs. Once infected, some diseases have no complete cure, and treatment can be expensive, painful, or lifelong.
The Core Prevention Methods
The NCERT approach groups prevention into three broad categories: behavioural, mechanical, and medical. Let's look at each.
1. Behavioural Prevention — The First Line of Defence
This is about choices you make before any sexual contact occurs. It is the simplest and most reliable method.
- Abstinence: Not having sexual intercourse at all. This is the only 100% guaranteed way to avoid STDs. For young people, delaying sexual activity is strongly recommended.
- Mutual monogamy: Having a sexual relationship with only one partner, who is also faithful to you, and both of you have been tested and are free of STDs.
- Avoiding high-risk behaviour: Not having multiple partners, not using alcohol or drugs before sex (which can impair judgment), and avoiding sex with people whose health status you do not know.
Behavioural methods require awareness and self-discipline. They cost nothing but demand personal responsibility.
2. Mechanical Prevention — Physical Barriers
These are devices that physically block the transfer of body fluids (semen, vaginal fluid, blood) between partners.
- Condoms (male and female): A thin latex or polyurethane sheath worn over the penis (male condom) or inside the vagina (female condom). When used correctly every time, condoms are highly effective against most STDs, including HIV.
- Dental dams: A square sheet of latex used during oral sex to prevent direct contact.
Condoms are not 100% effective — they can break or be used incorrectly. Also, they do not protect against infections spread by skin-to-skin contact in areas not covered by the condom (like herpes or genital warts). But they remain the best available barrier method.
3. Medical Prevention — Vaccines and Treatment
- Vaccination: Safe and effective vaccines exist for Hepatitis B and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) — which causes cervical cancer and genital warts. The NCERT recommends that adolescents receive these vaccines before becoming sexually active.
- Regular testing and early treatment: If you are sexually active, getting tested regularly (even without symptoms) helps catch infections early. Many STDs have no visible symptoms. Early treatment can cure some infections and prevent complications. …
STDs are simply infections passed on through sexual contact, and several distinct pathogens, bacterial and viral alike, are responsible for the commonly cited examples. …
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), also called venereal diseases or RTIs, are infections transmitted through sexual contact — examples include gonorrhoea, syphilis, genital herpes, chlamydiasis, genital warts, trichomoniasis, hepatitis-B and HIV/AIDS. They are especially common in the 15–24 age group due to lack of awareness, unprotected sex and hesitation to seek timely treatment.
- Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) — also called Reproductive Tract Infections (RTIs) or venereal diseases — are infections or diseases that spread through sexual contact with an infected person. Besides sexual contact, some can also be transmitted through blood transfusion, sharing of injection needles, and from infected mother to foetus.
- Common examples of STDs include:
- Gonorrhoea (bacterial)
- Syphilis (bacterial)
- Genital herpes (viral)
- Chlamydiasis (bacterial — the most common STD) (Other examples: genital warts, trichomoniasis, hepatitis-B, and HIV infection leading to AIDS.) …
Showing the 12 most recent of 15 on this concept.
- CBSE 2026Set V11 markMCQQ.Sexually transmitted infection that can be completely curable is(a) Gonorrhea(b) Hepatitis-B(c) AIDS(d) Genital herpes
›Reveal solutionSolution
Gonorrhea is bacterial and fully curable; the other three are viral and not completely curable.
Gonorrhea is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae and, if detected early, is completely curable with antibiotics. Hepatitis-B, AID …
- CBSE 2026Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Which of the following is not a sexually transmitted disease?(a) Gonorrhoea(b) Herpes(c) Syphilis(d) Tuberculosis
›Reveal solutionSolution
Gonorrhoea, herpes and syphilis are classic sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); tuberculosis is a respiratory bacterial infection, not an STD.
Sexually transmitted diseases (also called venereal diseases or RTIs) spread through sexual contact and include gonorrhoea and syphilis (bacterial), genital herpes (viral), as well as HIV/AIDS, genital warts and trichomoniasis. Tuberculosi …
- CBSE 2026Set SEM31 markMCQQ.________ is not a veneral disease.(a) Hepatitis-B(b) Malaria(c) Trichomoniasis(d) Syphilis
›Reveal solutionSolution
Hepatitis-B, Trichomoniasis and Syphilis are sexually transmitted (venereal) diseases; Malaria is transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito, so it is NOT a venereal disease.
Venereal / Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) are transmitted through sexual contact — examples include syphilis (bacterial), trichomoniasis (protozoan), and hepatitis-B (viral, also blood-borne but STD-classified). Malaria is caused by Plasmodium and spreads through the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito, i.e. it is a …
- CBSE 2025Set F1 markMCQQ.Which of the following is a sexually transmitted disease (STD)?(a) Syphilis(b) Gonorrhoea(c) Both (A) and (B)(d) None of these
›Reveal solutionSolution
Both syphilis and gonorrhoea are sexually transmitted diseases, so the answer is Both (A) and (B).
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs / reproductive tract infections) spread mainly through sexual contact. Bacterial STDs include:
- Syphilis (caused by Treponema pallidum),
- Gonorrhoea (caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae). …
- CBSE 2024Set D1 markQ.Write True or False: Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease.
›Reveal solutionSolution
The statement is True — syphilis is indeed a sexually transmitted disease, caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum.
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), also called reproductive tract infections (RTIs) or venereal diseases, are infections or diseases transmitted through sexual contact. Common examples listed in the NCERT syllabus include gonorrhoea, syphilis, genital herpes, chlamydiasis, genital warts, trichomoniasis, hepatitis-B, and HIV/AIDS.
…
- CBSE 2024Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Which one of the following diseases can be transmitted through sexual contact?(a) COVID 19(b) Typhoid(c) Hepatitis B(d) Cholera
›Reveal solutionSolution
Among the given options, Hepatitis B is a sexually transmitted disease (STD/RTI) - it also spreads through blood and body fluids.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), also called Reproductive Tract Infections (RTIs), spread through sexual contact. Common examples include gonorrhoea, syphilis, genital herpes, chlamydiasis, genital warts, trichomoniasis, Hepatitis B, and HIV/AIDS.
- Hepatitis B virus spreads through unprotected sexual contact, contaminated needles/blood transfusion, and from mother to child. …
- CBSE 2023Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Not an example of sexually transmitted disease is -(a) Gonorrhea(b) Syphilis(c) Chlamydiasis(d) Cancer
›Reveal solutionSolution
Gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydiasis are bacterial STDs transmitted through sexual intercourse; cancer is not an infectious disease and is not classified as an STD.
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), also called venereal diseases (VD) or reproductive tract infections (RTI), are infections transmitted through sexual contact. Common examples include gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes, chlamydiasis, genital warts, trichomoniasis, hepatitis-B and HIV/AIDS.
…
- CBSE 2023Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Genital warts is an STD spread by which?(a) hepatitis A(b) herpes virus(c) papilloma virus(d) Trichomonas
›Reveal solutionSolution
Genital warts are caused by human papilloma virus (HPV).
Genital warts are a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV). Certain HPV types also predispose to cervical cancer, which is why HPV vaccination is recommended. Hepatitis-A is not an STD in this sense, herpes virus causes genital he …
- CBSE 2022Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Genital warts spread through which of the following?(a) hepatitis-A(b) herpes virus(c) Trichomonas(d) papilloma virus
›Reveal solutionSolution
Genital warts are caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV), so the answer is (D).
Genital warts are a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by certain types of the human papilloma virus (HPV). The infection spreads through sexual contact and causes wart-like growths in the genital region; some HPV types are also linked to cervical cancer.
…
- CBSE 2021Set D1 markMCQQ.Which of the following is a sexually transmitted disease ?(a) Typhoid(b) Cholera(c) Malaria(d) Syphilis
›Reveal solutionSolution
Among the options, syphilis is the sexually transmitted disease, so the answer is (D).
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), also called reproductive tract infections, are infections passed on mainly through sexual contact. Common examples include syphilis, gonorrhoea, genital herpes, chlamydiasis, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis-B.
…
- CBSE 2020Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Which of the following is a sexually transmitted disease?(a) Cholera(b) Syphilis(c) Typhoid(d) Elephantiasis
›Reveal solutionSolution
Among the given options, Syphilis is the sexually transmitted disease (STD) — it spreads through sexual contact, unlike cholera, typhoid, and elephantiasis.
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), also called venereal diseases (VDs) or reproductive tract infections (RTIs), are infections transmitted through sexual contact. Common examples include gonorrhoea, syphilis, genital herpes, chlamydiasis, genital warts, trichomoniasis, HIV/AIDS, and hepatitis-B.
- Syphilis (option b) is caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum and is transmitted sexually — it is an STD. …
- CBSE 2018Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Which of the following is sexually transmitted disease?(a) AIDS(b) Polio(c) Elephantiasis(d) Tuberculosis
›Reveal solutionSolution
AIDS, caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), spreads primarily through unprotected sexual contact, making it a classic sexually transmitted disease.
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), also called reproductive tract infections (RTIs) or venereal diseases, are infections transmitted through sexual contact with an infected partner. Common examples include gonorrhoea, syphilis, genital herpes, chlamydiasis, genital warts, trichomoniasis, hepatitis-B, and HIV/AIDS. Among the given options, AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome), caused by HIV, is spread mainly through unprotected sexual intercourse (also via blood transfusion, sharing needles, a …
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