Infections

How do you get an STI?

STIs can be spread through unprotected vaginal, oral, and anal sexual intercourse. They can also be passed from a woman to her newborn during childbirth. STIs can be prevented by not having sexual intercourse or by using a new condom during every act of sexual intercourse.

If I don't have symptoms, can I still have an STI?

People with STIs don't always have symptoms. However, their reproductive systems can still be damaged and they can still pass the STI to another person.

If my partner and I use condoms most of the time, do we need to worry about STIs?

Yes. You or your partner must wear a new condom with every single act of intercourse in order to help prevent contracting some STIs. Using a condom sometimes, or even most of the time, will not adequately protect against STIs. There are also STIs that are spread from skin-to-skin contact, and even wearing a condom will not always protect you from those (because the condom prevents skin-to-skin transmission in only a limited area of the body).

If I contract an STI, does my partner need to be treated, too?

If you have an STI, depending on the infection, your partner needs to be tested and may need to be treated also. If your partner is not treated, he or she may have the STI and pass it back to you. In order to break the cycle, all partners may need to be treated.

If my partner doesn't sleep around, why should I worry about STIs?

Even if you're in a long-term, exclusive relationship, you should still worry about STIs. Maybe your relationship isn't as exclusive as you think. Or you or your partner may have an STI that you do not know about.

Not all STIs have obvious symptoms. Further, only some STIs are tested for in a routine pelvic exam. For example, PPNYC tests for gonorrhea and chlamydia during all routine pelvic exams and can also screen for HPV, syphilis, trichomoniasis, and HIV, but to get a complete STI exam, you must go to an STI clinic. Hepatitis B, which can be tested for at an STI clinic, can be very difficult to diagnose. Herpes also may be difficult to diagnose, unless a person has an outbreak at the time of their clinic visit. Also, it can take up to three months for HIV to show up on a test. For these reasons, it always best to use a condom (female or male) with every act of sexual intercourse.

What is HPV?

HPV stands for human papilloma virus. It is a virus that causes genital warts. It is important to protect yourself from HPV because some strains of the virus can also increase your risk of cervical cancer, if your cervix becomes infected. To learn more, check out our page on the Human Papilloma Virus.

Is oral sex safe?

You can't get pregnant, but you can still get an infection from oral sex. Oral sex is considered safer than unprotected anal or oral sex because some infections are harder to get through oral sex and others can't be passed that way at all. Check out our page on the Risks associated with Sexual Activity to learn about which infections you can get through oral sex and how to protect yourself.

How long after unprotected intercourse, before an HIV test will give a reliable result?

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. The HIV test is an antibody test. This means that it measures your immune system's response to the virus, not the virus itself. It is recommended that you wait three months after the date you think you might have been infected, in order to get a reliable test. This three months is sometimes called the window period. If you are infected, you can pass the virus to other people during the window period, so be sure to use a condom if you have sex during this period.