sexuallytransmittedinfections(STI)
Sexually transmitted infections can only be passed on from one person to another by intimate sexual contact. This means that you cannot be infected by shaking someone’s hand, by coughing or spitting, by sitting on a toilet seat or travelling in a tram or bus.
STIs are not carried by insects or other animals. You cannot pass on an STI by caressing, kissing, mutual masturbation or ejaculating on someone’s leg. Even oral sex is not necessarily infectious: it depends on how it is done and if perhaps little wounds are present.
How do you contact an STI?
The bacteria, viruses are other micro-organisms which cause STIs can only survive in an environment which is moist and warm and has the right composition. Sperm and blood are the most suitable liquids. Also, to move from one person to another, they must penetrate the skin, which is only possible through the thin mucous membrane on the inside of the penis, vagina, anus or mouth.
Outside an intimate sexual contact, STIs can only be one transmitted by injections or blood transfusion. Or from mother to foetus, which actually is a form of blood transfusion because the blood of the mother passes through the foetus.
do you know that you have an STI?
In the first place, you can have symptoms, in the second place you probably know that you’ve had unsafe sex in the recent past. Symptoms are, for instance, a burning feeling during urination, strange discharge from the penis or vagina or anus, or any of the other symptoms discussed below.
The combination of symptoms and recollection together form a pretty reliable indication that you may have an STI. You can then visit your doctor or a clinic. Most large hospitals offer free and anonymous consultation.