Remember the night you got drunk, didn't have a condom but went for it regardless? How about the time you hooked up with someone who had a reputation for sleeping with every fourth person in the phone book.
Maybe you rushed to get tested the next day. Or frantically searched Google to convince yourself that you're OK. Instead of comfort, you found horrifying images and statistics about how individuals lose internal organs and body parts start dropping off. You swore you'd never have sex again.
STD ‘education' tends to focus on specific symptoms, treatments and the worst-case scenario. Absent are real world experiences. Down-to-earth advice on how knowledge should modify your behavior is glossed over — simply telling you to abstain and, if you can't, use a condom.
People start getting paranoid and social stigmas show up.
The truth about STDs is complicated. For example, there are more than 100 strains of HPV and just four of them lead to cervical cancers — and that assumes it's left untreated.
The more people learn about STDs, the more you can relax a bit. It sounds crazy. But using a condom, getting tested regularly and staying away from persons with crack habits, you'll be fine.
The Odds
About 1 in 1800 persons are diagnosed with syphilis in America annually. Compare that to a 1:84 chance of being killed in a car wreck. One difference is syphilis can be cured with penicillin. Car wrecks are different.
Most people fear STD information because:
A. Scary information sells newspapers and,
B. Religious types don't want others to have fun
America does a lousy job of sex education, and a product of that ignorance is fear.
Most Prominent Types
Chlamydia
Treatable: Yes (2-4 Weeks)
America Prevalent(new cases annually): 2.86 million 3
Score : 36 Partners
Condom Protects: Yes
Gonorrhea
Treatable: Yes (within a month)
America Prevalent(new cases annually): 570,000 5
Score : 179 Partners
Condom Protects: Yes
Syphilis
Treatable: Yes
America Prevalent(new cases annually): 55,400 7
Score : 1841 partners (no, that's not a typo)
Condom Protects: No
HPV (High-risk variety)
Treatable: No, but it often departs on its own -- eventually. There is also a vaccination now. (get it!).
America Prevalent: 78 million 10
Score : 4 Partners
Condom Protects: No
HIV
Treatable: No
America Prevalent: 1.1 million 15
Score : 1,250 Partners (significantly fewer partners if engaging in anal sex)
Condoms Protect: Yes
Pregnancy
Treatable: Uhh… err…
America Prevalent: Your mom had it at least once
Score : 100 sexual encounters
Condom: 85% effective
If you don't know someone, use protection. If you don't want to be a parent, have open conversations with your partners, stay smart and stay safe.