Male College STD testing?

[BradenOC31]

Thanks Doctor for doiong this.

Here are my basic facts:  whtie, 19 year old, college male.  I have had 2 sexual parterns.  The first I am sure was clean (she was my ex-girlfirend and only had sex with another virgin).  However, the second was not a virgin, and I engaged in unprotected vaginal sex with her for less than 5 minutes on one occasion.  She is my friends, and I talked to her about it.  She said she has never had sympotms, but went and get tested at her doctor's office.  2 weeks later she had no heard anything, so she called and the nurse told her she was fine for everything.
Now, she told me she got tested for ALL STDs, and so I had abseloutely nothing to worry about. Do you think she got tested for ALL STDs?  I heard herpes (w/out symptoms) and HIV can often be excluded?  Due to this, Im still worried and thking I might need testing?  I have had no STD sympotms (other red marks after mastrubation once, but my doctor said it did not look like an STD at all, and it tested neg. for herpes by a culture)   I know she asked to be tested for all STDs possible, but Im worried she was not.  So shoud I get tested?   I would just be really upset if I gave anything to a future partner.

Thanks so much

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Herpes testing is not recommended unless there is specific suspicion or particularly high risk, like sex with a known-infected partner.  The reason is what you say:  the lower the chance someone is infected, the greater the chance of a misleading test result.  Given your sexual history and lack of symptoms, there is virtually no chance you have genital herpes.

Yes, if you have HPV, then before it spontanously clears up, you could transmit it to others. But so can everyone else.  A third of all college students is infected at any one time, 90% get it one time or another, and it is impossible to prevent.  And when infection does become apparent, such as by causing genital warts or an abnormal pap smear, it is rarely possible to know where or from whom someone was infected.  Genital HPV should be viewed as an inevitable, unavoidable consequence of being a sexually active human being.  Women should be immunized with Gardasil, the vaccine that prevents infection with the 2 HPV strains that cause 70% of cervical cancer and the 2 strains that cause almost all genital warts.  Someday there may be a recommendation for vaccinating men as well.  Aside from that, HPV isn't worth worrying about or trying to prevent.

[BradenOC31]

ok thanks, then what STDs should I get tested for?  herpes? - I heard it give misleading results sometimes?

Also,  so then there is no way to determine if I have HPV, but could I give it to a future partner, and have it cause a health risk for them?

Thanks again

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

All things considered, it is unlikely you are infected.  You describe both partners as being at pretty low risk; and your more recent partner's assertion she was tested for STDs probably is relaible.  What "all STDs" means, however, isn't certain and varies widely from one medical office or clinic to the next.  For example, there is no test to prove that someone doesn't have human papillomavirus (HPV), and testing for herpes often is not done as a routine STD test.  But you can be pretty sure she was tested and negative for chlamyida and gonorrhea, and probably for syphilis and HIV.

Every person who is sexually active outside committed, mutually monogamous relationships should be tested for STDs from time to time, so it would be fine for you to be tested, either now or when you return to the US.

All things considered, the chance you caught anything is very low, except for HPV.  Having had 2 lifetime partners, there is around a 30-40% chance you have been infected with HPV.  But the large majority of HPV infections cause no symptoms and no future health problem, and HPV goes away on its own.  And there is no routinely available test and no treatment for asymptomatic infection, so it isn't something you can do anything about anyway and not worth any worry.

I hope this helps.  Best wishes---  HHH, MD

[BradenOC31]

sorry if the grammer/writing is kind of weird - i have been studying overseas this summer, and havent really been used to writing english.

Thanks in response for your reply!  I really appreciate it:  Basically I would just like to know if that means she got tested for ALL STDs?  Or if not, should I go get tested when I get back to the states, and if so for which STDs?