A service provided by the BC Centre for Disease Control
In the years since SmartSexResource launched, we have developed a library of questions asked by you, and answered by our expert sexual health nurses.
Our answered questions library cover a broad range of sexual health topics and common questions we hear at our clinics.
Hi, and thanks for your question
You do not need to increase or change how frequently you get PAP screening done. The BC Cancer Agency sets these guidelines based on the current research and best practice. Their recommendation currently is for screening every 3 years after the age of 25. If they find anything unusual or atypical on a PAP test, they will make a recommendation for more frequent follow up at that time. So unless recommended otherwise, every 3 years is perfectly fine for you.
It’s also important to keep in mind that HPV is incredibly common and there are approximately 150 strains of the virus, most of which cause no harm and present no symptoms. The majority of sexually active adults will have at least one HPV infection during their lifetime and not even know about it. In fact, HPV is so common that we often refer to it as the “common cold of the genitals.” Our HPV Patient’s Guide has lots of great information on HPV if you’re interested.
The most important thing you can do for yourself is to get a PAP screen every three years. You may also want to consider the HPV Vaccine (Gardasil-9) if the cost is not too prohibitive.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns. Health Nurse
Hi, and thank you for your question
The chance of getting HIV from oral sex is extremely low as indicated in our Know Your Chances charts and on our HIV and AIDS information page. If you are sexually active, we recommend getting tested routinely (every 6-12 months) for all sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea. The best time to test for HIV is 6-12 weeks after an encounter as it can take up to this amount of time for antibodies to be detectable if a person has acquired the virus.
I would add that simply because someone does sex work, this does not mean that they have HIV. In fact you have indicated that this person told you that they do not have HIV and that they are “well-reviewed” on their profile. Whether you engage in sexual contact with someone who does sex work, or with someone you met online or at any other venue, it is important to consider precautions you may want to take against infections. As already noted, oral sex is generally pretty low risk for HIV but other infections such as HSV, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea can be more easily passed this way. Regardless of the partner, condoms are a good way to prevent or to decrease the chance of passing these infections.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse
Hello, and thank you for your question.
HIV is transmitted through blood and body fluids, and cannot be passed through casual contact, skin to skin contact, or through clothing.
For more information on a variety of sexually transmitted infections please visit STIs at a Glance or for info about transmission risk check out Know your Chances.
Please let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse
Hi, and thank you for your question
It would be pretty unusual to develop symptoms of an STI that quickly after possibly being exposed. A very likely culprit of the soreness you felt might have been due to friction and not enough lubrication during insertive sex. Sometimes adding some extra lubricant can really help with comfort and with preventing damage to the skin such as small tears.
I don’t know what the discharge might have been, but it can be common to have some irritation to the urethra after having sex. During intercourse there are lots of microbes (non-harmful, normal healthy bacteria) that can be passed between partners. While these microbes don’t necessarily cause an infection they can get up into the urethra and cause some irritation. Staying well hydrated, urinating frequently (especially right after sex) and drinking cranberry juice or taking some cranberry supplements can help with this discomfort.
Finally, yes some STIs could be passed from your finger’s to a male partner’s genitals, if your fingers had been touching your own genitals first and there is an infection already present. The most common things would be infections passed through skin to skin contact such as HPV, herpes or even syphilis. So for example, if a person has an active herpes outbreak on their genitals and touches the sores, then immediately touches their partner’s genitals, it would be possible to pass that infection to the partner.
You might find our STIs at a Glance chart helpful as it gives a quick overview of how different infections are passed.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse
Genital warts are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). It is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
There are over 100 types of HPV. About 40 of them can affect the anus/rectum, genitals and less commonly, the mouth and throat. HPV is sexually transmitted through skin-to-skin contact. This includes sexual contact such as, genitals rubbing together, penetrative sex (vaginal/internal genital or anal/rectal intercourse), oral sex, sharing sex toys, and hands on genitals. HPV may still be present even if there are no visible warts or when the warts are gone. Wearing condoms can help to reduce, but not eliminate the chances of passing HPV from one partner to another.
For the majority of people, the virus will clear the body on its own without causing symptoms/warts or problems.
For those who do get symptoms (genital warts), most of these will eventually go away with or without having them treated, often within 18-24 months. Once your genital warts are gone, this does not mean the HPV infection is gone or cured. Genital warts can come back and you can get HPV again from a partner who has it.
There are now vaccines that protect against the more common HPV types. The vaccine will not help you get rid of HPV if you already have it, but it can prevent future infections. To learn more about the HPV and other vaccines, click here.
Your immune system is responsible for clearing out the HPV virus within our bodies, but when and how it is cleared depends on the strain and your immune system. Some people may not have completeresolution of an HPV type. It could be that the type is dormant or “sleeping” in their body, but reawakens at some point. This sometimes happens when the body is under more stress that affects the immune system, such as periods of extreme stress or certain medications like chemotherapy.
It’s also possible that a person may resolve the type completely, but then get it again at a future date. It’s also very possible that someone could be infected with a different
HPV type if they are exposed to it. Having one type of HPV does not mean you won’t get other types of HPV if exposed to them. Regardless of the reason, some people can
have recurrent HPV.
Although our immune system does its best to protect us from HPV exposures, there is still a possibility of transmission if HPV is present. HPV passed through skin-to-skin contact during sexual activity. This includes any kind of sexual contact with the anal and genital regions, including genitals rubbing together, penetrative sex (vaginal or anal intercourse), oral sex, sharing sex toys, and hands on genitals. HPV may still be present even if there are no visible warts or when the warts are gone. Since HPV is so common that most people acquire it sooner or later, it is not realistic to avoid it. There is no need to stop having sex even if warts or other signs of HPV are present, or are being treated.
Condoms and other barrier methods can reduce the possibility of HPV transmission, although they do not provide full protection as HPV can be passed through other skin-to-skin contact. Condoms also protect against other STIs, including gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis and HIV. Using condoms is a good way to reduce the risk of getting STIs. Vaccination is the most effective way to protect ourself against HPV. A decade of using the HPV vaccine in British Columbia has shown that it is both safe and effective. For more information about the HPV vaccine visitwww.immunizebc.ca/hpv
Does this answer your question? Please let us know
HPV is a skin-to-skin contact STI which means that it is possible to transmit the virus to your partner during sex. It is important to note that there are more than 150 different types of strains of HPV, and only a few will cause genital warts. This means that you don’t necesarily need to have a wart to have HPV. Rest assured that HPV is quite common and our immune systems typically clear this virus out in most individuals on average 1-2 years (This may vary on your immune system and HPV strain). If you want to minimize your risk factors of transmitting HPV I recommend using a condom to and avoiding skin to skin contact when a wart is visible.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns
Health Nurse
Each province and territory in Canada has a different program for subsidizing drug costs for their residents. These programs have different criteria for who is eligible for coverage, how much the province or territory will pay and what drugs are covered. The programs may be complicated to understand without the help of your local AIDS service organization. Generally, the publicly funded provincial and territorial drug programs offer coverage for people on social assistance (“welfare”) and for seniors over the age of 65. Some provinces issue cards to show to your pharmacist that prove you are entitled to this type of coverage.
In British Columbia, antiretroviral medications and other drugs for management of HIV/AIDS are provided at no cost to medically eligible patients through the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) Drug Treatment Program. The following criteria are eligible to access medications for treatment of HIV infection through enrolment into the BC-CfE HIV Drug Treatment Program:
Documented HIV infection and clinically meets the current criteria for treatment with antiretroviral medication (as specified in the BC-CfE Therapeutic Guidelines)
AND
BC resident with Medical Services Plan (MSP) coverage (active BC Personal Health Number) or Interim Federal Health coverage (e.g. refugee status) or active medical plan coverage from another Canadian Province, for temporary coverage pending active MSP coverage.
If you were to buy antiretroviral medication out of pocket it can range anywhere from $300-$500 Canadian dollars per month which is determined by the market price listed by the pharmaceutical companies.
For more information regarding how to obtain HIV medication in British Columbia please visit the BC Centre for Excellence’s website at http://cfenet.ubc.ca/drug-treatment-program.
Hi, and thanks for your question.
Though not impossible, a person would be unlikely to get an STI from the type of contact you describe. If a person had an infection like syphilis or herpes that can be passed by skin to skin contact and they touched that area of themselves immediately prior to touching you, it might be possible to pass the virus or bacteria to you. Or if they had ejaculate on their own finger before touching your urethra they could possibly pass chlamydia or gonorrhea if they had either one of those infections.
Of course, those conditions would need to be in place, and really the risk from the encounter you describe is more theoretical than actual.
If you are sexually active, we do always recommend regular testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) anyways. To locate a testing provider in your area, have a look at our Clinic Finder
You might also find our Know Your Chances charts helpful in understanding how different STIs can be passed.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse
Hi
Chlamydia is a bacterial infection caused by the transmission of Chlamydia trachomatis during sexual contact in which body fluids are exchanged. Chlamydia can be in the throat, urethra (pee tube), vagina and rectum. It is common for chlamydia to cause no symptoms.
See our information page on chlamydia for some additional information.
A urinary tract infection (UTI) is a bacterial infection of the bladder and often the urethra. It is caused by the bacteria multiplying in urine. UTI are not seen as a sexually transmitted infection (STI) like chlamydia because typically the bacteria that cause this are not sexually transmitted, for example E coli is a common bacteria that causes UTI.
It’s not common for people with a penis to get a UTI as the longer urethra offers good protection from the bacterium that causes UTI.
A common symptom to a UTI is pain when urinating (peeing) this can also be a symptom of chlamydia and other common STI. Given this we find that if someone has this symptom and are concerned about a UTI, it would also be good to get a STI test if there was a possibility one could have been passed to you.
A clinic would be able to do an assessment to see if someone’s symptoms e.g. painful urination was caused by a UTI or a STI. Both chlamydia and UTI can be treated with antibiotics.
Let us know if you have any further concerns or questions.
Health Nurse