The thing is, if you are fairly selective in your partnerships, do use barrier methods of safer sex as well as get regularly tested, you'll end up okay. if most people did these things, these rates wouldn't be so bloody high, but most people assume everyone is going to get it BUT them.

I'm not going to stand real close to the condom stats until I see with something like that what age group they tested on, and how they did their testing, since many people lie and say they use condoms when they don't. However, condoms do not protect against things like HPV *as well* as they do against HIV.

In a nutshell: get tested, use your head, be as safe as you can, and recognize that it certainly CAN happen to you, no matter how safe you think you are. Both my partner and I got HPV years (almost ten at this point, in my case) ago when we were both in long-term, monogamous relationships with others. Myself, I had been with the same person, and had been tested several times, for nearly two years before we had sex without a condom, but lo and behold, my partners previous partner had HPV, it turned out that despite what he said he HADN'T been using a condom with her, and his tests didn't show the HPV initially. Thankfully, I had one flare-up, and as of the time being, have never had another, nor has it done any cervical damage thus far.

But my partner/husband and I, though monogamous and married, still play it safe for reasons like these.

I should also mention that when I contracted it almost ten years ago, it wasn't HALF as widespread.

So, there is plenty of hope if you practice sex safely, and that doesn't just mean using a condom. It's why we're pretty militant about this stuff.