1. STD Fact or Fiction

2. Most people with an STD experience painful symptoms
False
Most people who are infected with an STD, men and women alike, do not notice any symptoms until they visit their doctor or suffer from infertility. Sores do not have to be painful to be a problem

3. Birth control pills prevent the spread of STDs
False
Birth control pills prevent pregnancy, but do not offer protection from sexually transmitted diseases or infections. They may change the ph in the vagina and make the woman more susceptible to gonorrhea.

4. Douching will cure an STD
False
Douching, or washing the vagina out, may only spread an infection from the vagina into the uterus. Unless specially prescribed by a doctor, douching will not cure an STD

5. Abstinence is the best way to prevent STDs
True
Abstinence from sexual intercourse is the most effective way to avoid becoming exposed to a sexually transmitted disease. However, some genital tract infections can be spread through oral sex and close body-to-body contact

6. If you get an STD once, and are treated, you can’t get it again.
False
Even if a person has been treated with antibiotics, he/she can be re-infected if she/he has sexual contact with someone who carries the disease

7. A person does not need to see a doctor if she/he notices sores on his/her genitals once, but then they go away
False
Even if symptoms go away after a week or so, a person still needs to see a doctor. Just because the symptoms have abated, doesn’t mean the disease has disappeared

8. Condoms help prevent the spread of STDs
True
Although condoms are not 100% effective in preventing exposure to STDs, they are much better than nothing. They prevent direct skin-to-skin contact. Genital areas not covered by the condom may still be infected

9. 30 to 40 million Americans currently have
HIV/AIDS
Herpes
Chlamydia

10. Women who've had an STD are at increased risk for: a) infertility b) HIV/AIDS c) cervical cancer

11. Experts call which of the following bacterial STDs
"the silent epidemic"?
Scabies
chlamydia
trichomoniasis

12. Which of the following groups is at greatest risk for STDs?
men under 25
women under 25
men 25-40

13. When asked to name the greatest obstacle they face in trying to protect themselves against STDs, people most often cite:
Carelessness
Ignorance
self-consciousness

14. Experts now recommend that young people be immunized against what STD?
Chlamydia
Herpes
hepatitis B

15. Which of the following STDs can be cured?
Herpes
gonorrhea
genital warts

16. The most common symptom of STD infection in women is:
vaginal discharge
sores and/or blisters in the genital region
no symptoms

17. You may be at increased risk for HIV/AIDS if:
you have had many sex partners in the last 10 years
you have given blood at a blood bank or blood collection center
you have eaten food prepared by a person infected with HIV

18. The best form of protection against STDs during sex is:
Spermicides
condoms, used correctly all the time
the pill, Norplant, and Depo-Provera