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STD Prevention - Help!

Prevention

Being uninformed about sexually transmitted diseases (STD) would most likely be the main culprit for people being infected with diseases. Thus, reading this article would likely be your first step of prevention in acquiring those undesirable sexually transmitted diseases such as herpes, gonorrhea, HIV/AIDS and the like. STD prevention is actually quite easy, but it may require some small changes in one's lifestyle if a person's sexual activities and partners are varied.

Here are some ways in making sure that you are on alert for STD prevention:

1. Abstain from Sexual Activity: Of course this is usually more appropriate for the more prudent members of the society, or those who have actually taken a vow of chastity. Abstinence for STD prevention is quite a drastic measure to take, and may not be so realistic for most adults, especially who have committed themselves to long term partners and those who plan to have children.

2. Choose Sexual Partners Carefully: STD prevention is highly probable if one is able to really select their sexual partners. This is a very important guideline, by which people are encouraged to maintain a sexual relationship with a single partner for a long period of time. Monogamy is highly encouraged in order to maintain STD prevention. It is also a very good idea to ensure that your partner has not had any other or has not had a variety of sexual partners prior to your relationship. If this is the case, then what would be a very good step to take is to have both of you tested for any possibility of having sexually transmitted diseases. This will be necessary to prevent the spread of any possible disease from being passed on to other people, especially if a couple is thinking of creating a family in the future.

3. Engage in Safe Sex: If monogamy is too boring for your lifestyle, then the next best step to take is to practice safe sexual relations. Making sure that your partner has no sexually transmitted disease by carefully examining them, or even to the point of asking them point blank if they have been personally vigilant about STD prevention, would be an acceptable practice prior to engaging in a possibly risky sexual activity. Use of protection, such as condoms or dental dams, may be uncomfortable or may decrease the enjoyment of the sexual activity, but this will highly reduce the risk of any of you acquiring viruses of sexually transmitted diseases from your potential partners.

4. Consult a Healthcare Practitioner: If the third step was not observed, then the next thing to do is to consult a healthcare practitioner immediately after having unprotected sex. Another step involved in this is to refrain from other sexual activities after having unprotected sex, so that in case you have contracted a virus, then it would not be spread unnecessarily. This step should be taken even if one has not exhibited any symptoms of an STD. STD prevention goes beyond preventing it from happening to you, but this goes to the extent of preventing STDs from spreading to other people.

A big part of STD prevention is getting oneself tested in order to ensure that one does not have any unwanted STDs. Get tested for STD now, and be safe.