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.
That is great that you went directly to a clinic for treatment once you were named as a contact to a case of Chlamydia. It is true that if it was only 36 hours after the potential exposure it would have likely been too early for the Chlamydia to show up positive on an STI test as the test is checking for your body’s antibody response to the bacteria and that time interval wouldn’t have given the body enough time to build enough of an immune response to be detectable on the test. That said, treatment is appropriate at this time as the antibiotic it will still kill off the Chlamydia bacteria. Please hold off from having sex for 7 days after treatment as it takes that long for all of the bacteria to be killed.
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
Hi, and thanks for your question
Actually the herpes virus, whether it is HSV-1 or HSV-2, is very easily spread by skin-to-skin contact. So yes, if someone gets a herpes infection on the genitals from oral sex, it is absolutely possible to then pass that infection to another partner during sexual contact.
Keep in mind, however, that while herpes is easily spread (which is why it’s so very common!) it is only being passed when the virus is active. Typically this means that it’s only spreading when the symptoms of blisters or lesions are present on the skin. When the blisters heal, the virus goes to “sleep” on the nerve pathway and is not being passed until it wakes up again. The frequency of when the virus “wakes up” and spreads from person to person varies. Some people only ever get one outbreak in their lifetime, while other people might have 2 or 3 outbreaks per year.
If you’re interested in reading more about herpes and the virus that causes it, have a look at our Herpes: Patient’s Guide.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse
Hi, and thanks for your question
Waiting 7 days after taking the medication for a sexually transmitted infection is necessary to get rid of the infection in your body. During that time, you can still transmit the infection to your partners. If you were to then have sex with the same partner beyond that 7 day period, there is a very good chance that person could give the infection back to you, since many STIs are pretty easily passed.
For this reason it is important that you get any STIs treated appropriately and that any ongoing partners also get tested and take the treatment right away to avoid the infection going back and forth between the two of you.
At this point, the person you had sex with after you took the medication, should get treatment for the STI and you both should wait until seven days after treatment before having sex.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse
Hi, and thanks for your question
Condoms, when used properly, are a very effective barrier against HIV transmission. They are also excellent at preventing other sexually transmitted infections such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis as well as preventing pregnancy.
For maximum efficacy it’s important that condoms be used correctly. A new condom should be used every time you have intercourse, as well as with each new partner, and when switching from anal to oral or vaginal penetration. The condom should be put on before the penis/external genitals touch the partner’s genitals or anus.
I don’t have any data on whether there has ever been a case of HIV with an intact condom, but what I can say is that condoms are very effective at preventing HIV.
Have a look at our Condoms page for more information and tips. You might also find our Know Your Chances charts helpful when considering risk of various types of STIs including HIV.
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.
Hi
Let me know if I got this wrong but is sounds like the condom slipped off while you were having vaginal sex.
The concern would be if you came in contact with any vaginal fluids when this happed, I could see that depending were the condom was when it slipped off that your penis may or may not have come in contact with vaginal fluids.
It sounds like you have been really safe with using condoms for vaginal/oral sex and going for STI testing on a regular basis. As it is possible that your penis may have come in contact with vaginal fluid I would recommend going in for a STI test, as this would be like having unprotected vaginal sex in terms of risk. In terms of the chance of something passing this is hard to know as it really depends if the person has an STI in the first place, even if they have an STI it is never 100% that it will pass the one time you have sex.
STI like chlamydia and gonorrhea usually show up in a urine test by 2 weeks so it best to wait at least 2 weeks before getting tested unless you develop symptoms e.g. discharge from penis, hurts when you pee, sores on the penis etc.… Blood tests that check for STI like HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B usually show up by 6 weeks on a test but can take up to 3 months to get a final result.
Given this I would recommend waiting 2 weeks before getting a STI check and then go back at 6 weeks to repeat the blood test. I would also consider getting the hepatitis B vaccine if you have not had it already. We know it can be a stressful for some people when they have to wait to do a test and then wait for the results. If this is happening for you, let us know if you need any help or support during this time.
In terms of using condoms in the future having a condom that fits better (feels comfortable and you can roll it down all the way) can decrease the chance of it slipping off and we also find that some people like using a female condom if they are having a problem with a male condom fitting.
Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any more questions or concerns.
Health Nurse