Yeah. We’ve been getting a little more serious lately, but I’m scared about getting an STI.
…It’s about your girlfriend, isn’t it?
Doesn’t that mean that my sex life will be over?
Not necessarily.
Many STIs are curable, or treatable with antiviral medications that will reduce your symptoms and lower the risk of giving someone else an infection.
That’s a relief, but I still don’t want to risk living with an STD for the rest of my life.
Luckily, if I use a condom, I’ll be safe, right?
That’s not quite right.
If you use a condom properly, they are very effective in preventing the spread of HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis, among others.
But you can still contract things like herpes, HPV, and scabies, among others, because they can be outside of the surface area of a condom, and some things can spread with just infected skin-to-skin contact.
So it’s still important to still take other steps to be safe.
Well, condoms aren’t safe, but oral sex and kissing are still fine, right?
No, those still present the risk of infection through infected skin-to-skin contact and saliva.
For example, herpes and HPV can spread from the genitals to the mouth, and syphilis, HPV, herpes, and monkeypox can all spread through kissing.
Okay. Well, I’ll be able to tell if my partner or someone else has an STI, because the symptoms show up pretty soon after you get infected, right?
Well, some infections can take even years to show signs, while the person who has it can still spread it.
That’s why you should always get tested with your partners.
But we’re both still virgins, and we plan on keeping our relationship monogamous. So isn’t it impossible to get an STI from each other?
STIs can spread through things that you wouldn’t normally consider sexual, like infected skin-to-skin contact, dirty needles, or even from mother to child through childbirth or breastmilk.
And because STIs are often asymptomatic, there’s no way to tell whether you have one or not unless you get tested!
One last thing.
If I do end up getting an STI in the future, once I get treated, I’ll get an immunity to it like for normal infections, right?
No, even if you don’t get one that can’t be treated and you’ll have forever, you won’t get immunity and can still get STDs you’ve had before just the same way.
It’s always important to protect yourself!
Thanks! That really cleared up a few misconceptions I had.