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As long as you engage in sexual activity, germs are out there waiting. Anyone who is sexually active is at risk for an STD. Did you know that by age 25, 50% of sexually active adults get an STD? Did you also know that about 19% of Americans over the age of 50 are infected with HIV. According to the U.S. Administration on Aging, the most common types of STD in older adults are chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.
Another important fact to remember about STDs is that you don’t need to have intercourse to contract it. Any type of sexual activity, including skin-to-skin contact and oral sex puts you at an increased risk. This is especially true of STDs that produce genital lesions or sores such as HPV or human papilloma virus or herpes. That’s right. If you touch one of these funky things, you may get an STD yourself.
Are you one of those people who think that a condom is the ultimate protection and as long as you wear it you can do anything and anybody without a reason to worry? Wrong. Condoms, although effective in preventing some STDS, do not provide perfect protection. They are good at protecting you against gonorrhea, chlamydia, HIV and trichomoniasis but provide less protection against herpes, syphilis and genital warts. They offer virtually no protection against crabs and scabies.
Remember that condoms only protect what is covered. All the other uncovered parts that come in contact are at an increased risk. I think you can figure out what those unprotected parts are for yourself. So before you touch, lick or insert anything of yours into someone else, stop and think about whether or not it is safe for you to proceed. If your heart tells you it ain’t a good idea… it probably ain’t a good idea! It is most likely going to be better for you to take a cold shower and take a walk. Just imagine how you’ll look and feel with warts, gonorrhea, pain, smelly discharge and funny things that may begin to grow on… or inside you.
If you do catch one of these icky creatures and you are in a relationship with someone who is not infected, you must tell your partner so she or he can get treated promptly. Even if you are getting treatment, you can still be spreading the infection while on treatment.
Letting the infection linger without treatment can lead to serious consequences such as sterility, scarring and chronic pain. If you don’t tell, it isn’t like your partner won’t find out. The symptoms will surface soon and when they do, guess who is going to look suspicious?
What is also important know is that being treated once for an STD doesn’t grant you immunity for future infections. What this means is that if you do that naughty thing again with the wrong person, you will get it again and again until you get smarter and start protecting yourself. Remember, repeated STDs will leave you scarred and impaired and you may not like the results of these repeated or chronic infections.
Jennie Yoon Buchanan M.D.
P.S. I look forward to answering your questions and reading your comments about sex and STD prevention. Send them directly to me at the address below:
DrYoon@PinkIsPowerful.com
