Choices

When it comes to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), you have choices and taking control is simple. Get informed, make decisions, and choose how you can have safe and enjoyable sex.

Below are some steps you can take. Decide what's right for you.

Practice Abstinence
Use Condoms
Use Lubricant with Condoms
Seek a Safe and Healthy Relationship
Commit to a Monogamous Relationship
Talk to Your Partner
Avoid Risky Behavior
Get Tested
Get Treated

Practice Abstinence
Abstinence means to avoid having any type of sex (oral, anal, vaginal). This is the only method that is 100% effective and can assure prevention from any type of sexually transmitted infection.

Use Condoms
Male and female condoms offer the next best prevention method of STIs after abstinence. Condoms have to be made of latex. If you are allergic to latex, then a plastic condom should be used. Condoms made of other materials do not protect against HIV/AIDS or other STIs.

Use Lubricant with Condoms
Using a lubricant with a condom offers additional protection and added pleasure during vaginal and anal intercourse. Make sure the lubricant is water-based. Avoid oil-based lubricants as it weakens the latex and increase the likelihood of breaking during intercourse.

Commit to a Monogamous Relationship
Commit to a "mutually" monogamous relationship. Both you and your partner need to have a clear understanding and a commitment, in which neither of you will engage in sexual relationships with a third person.

Seek a Safe and Healthy Relationship
Safe and healthy relationships are critical for your mental and physical health. It can also help prevent STIs. A safe and healthy relationship means you can talk about sex with your partner, decide if you want to have sex, and work together to decide what steps are right for you, such as using a condom. Most importantly, your relationship must be free of violence and abuse.

Talk to Your Partner
Talking to your partner is an excellent way of preventing STIs. When you decide to have sex with a new partner:

Feel free to ask questions about his or her sexual history
Make it clear that safe sex is a priority for you in any relationship
Be non-judgmental
Find out when the person was last tested for STIs
Determine steps you and your partner will take to prevent the spread from one to another if one partner lives with an STI and you both decide to have sex
Make sure you're both informed about STIs

Avoid Risky Behavior
Your risk of having an STI is based on decisions you make in your life that increase the chances of getting an infection during sex. Avoid risky behavior or situations, such as:

Alcohol or other drugs mixed with sexual activities, which can lead to situations in which you are unable to practice safe and/or consensual sexual practices
Violent and abusive relationships
Unprotected sex without knowing your partner's sexual history
A relationship that is not mutually monogamous

Get Tested
The important thing about getting tested is that it not only helps you take care of your body, but also prevents the spread of an infection to loved ones.

If you're sexually active, don't wait for symptoms to get tested, because not all STIs have symptoms. If you're in a safe and monogamous relationship, get tested once a year. In a new relationship, both you and your partner should get tested BEFORE having sex.

In certain situations, be sure you and your partner get tested more often, if:

You have more than one partner
See a sore, lesion, or wart on you or your partner's genital area.
You are unsure whether you're in a mutually monogamous relationship, in which both partners have a clear understanding that they are only having sex with one another.
You're in a violent or abusive relationship.

Visit your doctor and ask for a test. Health centers, other clinics, and health departments offer free testing, treatment, and counseling. For more information, please consult your doctor and visit our STI Resources page.

Get Treated
If you learn that you have been infected, get treated and get your partner treated as soon as possible.

It is important that both you and your partner get treatment at the same time. Otherwise, you will continue to infect one another; or someone else!
Most bacterial infections can be easily treated with medication, such as oral antibiotics or injections. If left untreated, they can be painful and in some cases, cause serious health problems, such as infertility.
While most viral infections cannot be treated permanently, there are options for treating the symptoms and suppressing the infection. If left untreated, they can be painful and, in some cases, cause serious health problems. For example, people living with HIV/AIDS lead full lives.