STDs: We’re All (In|Aff)ected
I was shocked a year or two to discover how little I really knew about STDs... Sure, my knowledge was right on about HIV, chlamydia, and gonorrhea, but I was woefully under-informed about the human papillomavirus (HPV) and herpes 1 & 2. And I get the impression everyone else is pretty under-informed, too.
Most people like to think they've never had an STD, and they're mostly wrong. Most people may never have had symptoms (or at least noticeable ones), but that's not the same as never having had an STD. If you've had more than a couple partners you are statistically guaranteed to have been exposed to HPV and herpes. And the more exposure and greater duration of exposure the more likely you are to have caught it. And you'd probably not know you got it, most people don't show symptoms. And the STD tests you get at your doctor or planned parenthood don't check for HPV or herpes.
Did you know that 50 - 75% of people get HPV at some point in their lives? And that 45% of people aged 20 - 24 have an active HPV infection? And that 28% of 24 - 40 year olds have an active HPV infection. Standard STD tests do NOT detect HPV. HPV is typically detected only after a woman shows an abnormal Pap smear, but a Pap smear does not itself detect HPV it detects the changes certain types of HPV cause, therefore a negative Pap smear doesn't mean you don't have one of the 40+ strains of HPV. Some HPV strains cause genital warts, others cause no symptoms at all. There are no HPV tests for men. Most HSV infections clear on their own without problems, "70% of infections are gone in 1 year and 90% in 2 year", others last quite a bit longer.
Did you know that 75 - 90% of people have Herpes 1 (HSV-1), which typically infects a nerve in the face and can cause cold sores? Did you know 25% of people have Herpes 2 (HSV-2) which prefers to reside in a pelvic nerve, typically causing sores in the genitals. But did you know 90% of those people with genital HSV-2 don't know they have it because they are asymptomatic? Did you know you people are still infectious even when they have no symptoms or blisters, through viral shedding (infected people shed the virus 15-20% of days where no lesions are present)? Did you know that genital herpes can be caused by either HSV-1 or HSV-2? In other words, if your boyfriend is one of the 75 - 90% with HSV-1 in his facial nerve and he performs oral sex on you and you do not have HSV-1 then this can give you genital herpes (type HSV-1) even if he has no memory of ever having a cold sore or outbreak. You can also get HSV-2 orally. The viruses may "prefer" one location or the other, but they'll infect either locations. Because of the preference an HSV-1 infection won't cause as many or as problematic genital outbreaks if it is acquired there, and an HSV-2 oral infection won't cause as many or as troublesome oral infections. HSV-2 is not as infectious as it could be, fortunately. The infection rate for couples where one is known to be have HSV-2 and the other not is 8% per year. Medhelp is a useful place for information. If you have sores you can get the sores tested to find out what type they are, but without sores the only option is a blood test for antibodies, like the HerpeSelect Type Specific IgG. The IgG test will tell you which if any HSV you may have, but won't tell you whether you have either orally or genitally; keep in mind 75-90% of people will get positive HSV-1 results, and most acquired it before they were 2 years old from grandparents or parents kissing them or sharing cups/utensils! (I asked for the test as an adjunct to routine STD testing, and found out I have neither HSV-1 nor HSV-2, which is oddly a bad thing, I'm in the minority, which means I have to worry about catching HSV-1, though there's not much point in worrying about it since it's so common.)
And did you know how ineffective condoms are at protecting you from contracting HPV or HSV? Condoms only reduce the risk of HSV-2 transmission by 30-50% (in actual use, biological effectiveness is limited to only 90%). The protective value of condoms for HPV is unknown, but some studies suggest it is poor.
For cheap-ish online STD tests I did it anonymously at HealthCheckUSA. It's not a bad system, really. You buy online (do a search for coupons, I found one for 15% off), go into a lab nearby where they draw blood/etc., and then in 3-4 days your results are on the website. To do it anonymously use an anonymous debit card (see my post on that topic).
I'm not saying all these things to discourage sex, just to discourage the fallacy that you can have sex without getting something. We need to shift our thinking, accept how common these relatively harmless STDs are, and stop the stigmatization of those who have them, because you've had something too (you just didn't know it).
^Q
