Sexual Illness

Not having sexual contact with anyone in the past does decrease your risk of STI transmission, however it does not totally negate the risk. First of all, some STIs can be transmitted via non-sexual means. One example that works really well when we’re talking about oral sex is herpes. As is noted in…

Absolutely! Hands are pretty darn dirty places. I mean, think about all the things we touch in a given day! Your hands can definitely carry bacteria and germs on them. Those nasties can then easily make their way into your body if a partner performs manual sex on you. Vaginal tissue is pretty…

If you had a partner before him for oral, vaginal or anal sex, that could be who you got it from and your current partner managed not to contract it from you (now or yet), or contracted it so recently that he isn’t testing positive yet. Or, your current partner’s test wasn’t accurate, or he said he…

Have you EVER had any sexual contact including sexual intercourse and dry sex with direct genital contact? And have you never been raped or experienced a sexual assault that involved genitals coming in direct contact? If you have NEVER EVER NEVER experienced any of these things, then you are the…

Was her partner ever treated when she was? Standard procedure when one person is diagnosed with Chlamydia is for a healthcare provider to make clear that all current or recent partners are informed so that they can also be treated at the same time. Some healthcare providers will even just provide…

With most sexually transmitted infections, it would be highly unlikely for a person to have one who has not had any kind of sexual contact – with genitals, hands or mouths – to have one. We call STIs – sexually transmitted infections – what we do because that is usually how they are transmitted…

You can certainly do your best to help keep your immune system doing it’s job to fight off anything you may have been exposed to, just by taking sound care of yourself: eating right, getting enough activity and rest, limiting or avoiding substances that can tax the immune system like caffeine…

Gardasil, the vaccine that protects against 4 strains of HPV, is most effective when given to women before they begin sexual activity. But previously sexual activity doesn’t render the vaccine null and void. Even if she acquires HPV from previous sexual activity, the chances of her acquiring all 4…

If you shaved your vulva very recently before sex, then I’d say the chances are that yes: that’s the reason for the irritation. That skin is pretty delicate, and all the more so when it’s been irritated by something, and shaving certainly does that. Add a bunch of friction and body heat to an…

Yeast infections actually get their start in the intestinal tract, not in or on your genitals. Small amounts of yeast are normal and healthy in the body, but when certain factors cause that yeast – specifically candida albicans – to overgrow, that’s when you wind up with a yeast infection, which…