Facts About STDs

Have a question about sexually transmitted diseases? Answers to your STD symptom, STD testing, STD prevention, & STD treatment questions can be found here! Want to know more? Submit a question!

Other STD FAQs:

• Viral STD FAQ
• Common Non-Viral STD FAQ
• Rare STD FAQ

Questions About STD Symptoms

• What are the Incubation Periods of Common STDs?
  • You just had sex with a new partner, and now you're starting to itch. Are you just paranoid? Or could you have picked up an STD. Learn how quickly symptoms do, and don't, appear for some of the most common STDs.
• What is the Difference Between a Cold Sore, a Canker Sore, and a Chancre?
• A lot of people get confused about the difference between a cold sore and a canker sore, and don't know which are infectious and which are not. Still others hear "canker" and "chancre" and think they're the same thing! Here's a quick guide to the three types of sores.

Questions About STD Testing

• What are the Current STD Screening Recommendations?
  • When you go to the doctor for your annual exam, what STDs should you be screened for? It's helpful for you to know, because sometimes your doctor doesn't.
• Why Do I Need a Pap Smear to Get Oral Contraceptive Pills?
  • Some women get really annoyed when their doctor requires them to get a Pap Smear before they're allowed to pick up their pills, but there's a very good reason. Pap smears may be unpleasant, but getting them can save your life.
• How Often Do I Need a Pap Smear?
  • With all the news about HPV and cervical cancer, some women wonder why they still need to get Pap smears. Need some help understanding why your doctor is recommending a Pap smear, an HPV test, or both? Here's the scoop (the scrape?)!
• What Does it Mean When My Test Results are Inconsistent?
  • It can be hard to hear that you've tested positive for an STD, but it can be even harder to hear that your doctor isn't sure. Sometimes one test for an STD will come up positive and another will come up negative. Why does this happen, and how can you understand what the inconsistent test results mean?

STD Prevention

• What is Asymptomatic Shedding?
  • Often people think that if they don't show signs of being infected with herpes, or another STD, they can't transmit it to their partner. They're wrong.
• Can Fingering Give me an STD? A lot of people want to know whether fingering can transmit disease. It's hard to give them a concrete answer.
• Is it Possible to Have a Risk Free One-Night Stand?
  • People often ask me if it's possible to have a risk-free one night stand or completely safe casual sex. The truth is that no sex is completely risk free, but you can make casual sex pretty safe if you choose your risks. The answer is yes, although I freely admit that it isn't always easy.
• What is Contact Tracing?
  • The nice thing about STDs is that you generally have a pretty good idea who you got them from and who you might have given them to. Contact tracing is a tool that allows doctors to try and stamp out STDs by investigating sexual networks.
• How Do STDs Increase HIV Risk?
• It's bad enough that you have a sexually transmitted disease, but did you know that most STDs also increase your risk of getting HIV? Learn how STD infections make it easier for HIV to get under your skin.

Teens & STDs

• I told my kid about the birds and the bees. Now I'm done, right?
  • If you want your teenager to feel comfortable talking with you about sex, then a quick overview of the birds and the bees isn't enough. The secret to a good sex talk is repetition.
• Why are Young Women More Susceptible to Cervical STD Infections?
  • Chlamydia and gonorrhea aren't only more common in young women because young women are more sexually active. They're also more common, because a quirk of female biology leaves the young more susceptible to cervical infections.
• Is Sex With a Virgin Safe?
  • Some people assume that sex with a virgin is automatically safe. Here's why they're wrong.
• What is the Hymen?
  • Some people are obsessed with female virginity. They talk about the "maidenhead" or "popping a girls cherry," but that tells me that they have no idea what the hymen actually is.

STDs in General

• What Does it Mean for a Disease or Condition to be "Socially Stigmatized?"
  • STDs are diseases just like any other, but many people feel like being diagnosed with them makes them somehow "dirty" or "bad." That's not true, and STDs aren't the only diseases that are socially stigmatized...