No Safety from STIs

I've been researching Sexually Transmitted Infections(STIs) today and it's making me grumpy. Many diseases are asymptomatic, yet doctors only test for them when you have symptoms. For example, Herpes. They only test if you have a lesion(they take a culture from the lesion and have it tested for the virus.) But if you've never had an outbreak, you won't be tested and you will pass it on to your partner. If you are concerned that you have been exposed, you can ask your doctor for a blood test that looks for antibodies to the virus, but many of the tests available are not reliable. Many give false positives for HSV-1(oral herpes or cold sores) or even chicken pox, which is in the same virus family. There could aslo be a false negative, since some people's bodies do not produce antibodies as quickly as others. Unless you ask for a specific test, most doctors will not automatically test for most STIs. Since teens(and adults) are not experts on sexual health, they assume that their doctor is watching for these conditions and tell their partners that they have no STIs. And its even true, as far as they know.



As an educator, this fills me with frustration. We warn kids to use condoms, but even when used perfectly, they're only 90% effective and less for things like warts and herpes that are transmitted through skin to skin contact, not body fluids. We say go tell your doctor that you've become sexually active, but the doctors assume that they are ok unless they have symptoms.

Even the things we tell kids to do to be safe (Use condoms, get tested, be honest with your doctor) will not keep them safe.