The Student Room Group

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Reply 1
Anonymous
Can you get an STD by sharing a straw with someone?


When you recognise that the acronym, 'STD', stands for 'Sexually-Transmitted Disease', you'll realise quite how futile this line of questioning actually is.
In theory, you could get genital herpes if the other person has it orally (if that makes sence). Otherwise you would have to be doing rude, rude things with said straw :wink:
Reply 3
cielo
Nope. That's a complete myth. Unless both of you have an open wound in/on your mouth where blood can mix, then I think it's virtually impossible. But please correct me if I'm wrong.


Actually what you're saying is a complete myth. You and Profesh are totally wrong.

Don't get methods of transmission of HIV and those of STIs in general mixed up. Contact of bodily fluids and blood are necessary for the transmission of HIV, not of other STIs.

Someone with a more in-depth knowledge of the issue should probably give a 100% accurate explanation but there are several STIs you can catch through saliva: hepatitis B, herpes...

However, you must always take into account the risk: certain activities have a low risk, compared to oral sex, sex or even worse, anal sex. Swapping saliva is relatively low-risk compared to these.
Reply 4
Sticky
Actually what you're saying is a complete myth. You and Profesh are totally wrong.

Don't get methods of transmission of HIV and those of STIs in general mixed up. Contact of bodily fluids and blood are necessary for the transmission of HIV, not of other STIs.


The denotation 'STD' signifies merely that a particular disease either can be or is transmitted sexually: it bears no relevance with respect to the viability of transmission through other means. As such, the original point of enquiry likens to 'Can diseases that may be transmitted through using a contaminated straw also be contracted sexually?'; the answer, in either case? Quite possibly: it all depends on the disease.
Reply 5
should i be concerned?
Reply 6
Profesh
The denotation 'STD' signifies merely that a particular disease either can be or is transmitted sexually: it bears no relevance with respect to the viability of transmission through other means. As such, the original point of enquiry likens to 'Can diseases that may be transmitted through using a contaminated straw also be contracted sexually?'; the answer, in either case? Quite possibly: it all depends on the disease.


Indeed and you'd need a true medical expert to actually tell you the incidence of such diseases/infections.
The sad thing these days is that there's so little information and knowledge among young people on the matter that you're lucky if half of 16 year olds know how HIV is caught, so informing them of how each infection is contracted and at what incidence is actually a very difficult task, mostly because when you're young, ignorance is cool. You don't get any mates by going on about how dangerous unprotected sex is, however, joking about using a plastic bag instead of condom...

Even HIV is not a disease you catch just because you have sex with someone who's positive and to really increase your chances to catch it, you'd have to engage in anal sex.

OP, I think the point is there's a reason why you're not supposed to have sex or unprotected sex with just about anyone and similar reasons why you shouldn't engage in oral sex with just anyone or stick your tongue down just anyone's throat.
Reply 7
Sticky
Indeed and you'd need a true medical expert to actually tell you the incidence of such diseases/infections.
The sad thing these days is that there's so little information and knowledge among young people on the matter that you're lucky if half of 16 year olds know how HIV is caught, so informing them of how each infection is contracted and at what incidence is actually a very difficult task, mostly because when you're young, ignorance is cool. You don't get any mates by going on about how dangerous unprotected sex is, however, joking about using a plastic bag instead of condom...

Even HIV is not a disease you catch just because you have sex with someone who's positive and to really increase your chances to catch it, you'd have to engage in anal sex.

OP, I think the point is there's a reason why you're not supposed to have sex or unprotected sex with just about anyone and similar reasons why you shouldn't engage in oral sex with just anyone or stick your tongue down just anyone's throat.


O.P.: the question of whether or not it's an 'STD' is irrelevant.
Reply 8
Anonymous
should i be concerned?


Swapping salvia with someone is not a "clean" activity but if you're doing it with people who you know relatively well and who don't do stuff with just about anyone, then really the risk is so tiny that you shouldn't worry. There's very little saliva swapped when sharing a straw. With any such activity, you shouldn't do it with just a stranger. If you do, you should be fully aware of ALL the risks and act accordingly (i.e. by using protection, by choosing what you're prepared to do with this individual...). What's important is not to stay away from any activity that can give you an STI or any disease (because in that case you might as well wrap yourself in cling film and stay home) but to KNOW the risks, just as a stuntman might seem to do crazy stunts that would seem suicidal to you and me, but he knows exactly the risks and plays accordingly.
Can you get an STD from someone who sneezed by you? :rolleyes:
Reply 10
If both your oral orifices were seeping copious amounts of infected blood onto the straw through gaping wounds, I would be somewhat concerned.

Otherwise, get a life.
Reply 11
The fact you're even asking about this, shows that you must have thought "hang on a minute, this person looks like he/she has an STD", in which case why did you do it?
Reply 12
Straas
If both your oral orifices were seeping copious amounts of infected blood onto the straw through gaping wounds, I would be somewhat concerned.

Otherwise, get a life.


How do you think people catch oral or genital herpes? By oozing blood onto each other?

Do some of you actually get out and learn stuff about life? :rolleyes:
Anonymous
Can you get an STD by sharing a straw with someone?


depends where you're putting the straw :dong:
Reply 14
It obviously depends on the STD in question ( there are plenty of them you know ), but if you are talking about HIV then there is no chance in hell that would happen. Well, maybe if the HIV positive person managed to stab himself with the straw, soaking it in his own blood, and you still proceeded to drink from said straw...

The HIV virus doesn't survive outside of the body fluids, and it doesn't survive for any significant periods of time in the saliva. Thus contracting HIV from kissing is considered extremely unlikely and would probably require the infected person to have minor cuts or wounds in, or near, his/her mouth. HIV is typically transmitted through unprotected anal, vaginal or oral sex or sharing injection needles. Also, blood transfusions can in very rare cases transmit HIV as the tests HIV tests are only reliable after the eprson has been infected for some time ( The tests actually detect the imunological response to the infection as opposed to the virus itself ).

Shameless wikipedia cut-n-paste job:
The three main transmission routes of HIV are sexual contact, exposure to infected body fluids or tissues and from mother to fetus or child during perinatal period. It is possible to find HIV in the saliva, tears, and urine of infected individuals, but due to the low concentration of virus in these biological liquids, the risk is negligible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS#Transmission_and_prevention
Reply 15
Sticky

Even HIV is not a disease you catch just because you have sex with someone who's positive and to really increase your chances to catch it, you'd have to engage in anal sex.


This is NOT true. Yes, the chance is relatively low, but the chance of transmission from vaginal sex isn't very much less than for anal sex. The chance of transmission from receptive anal intercourse is about 0.5% as compared to 0.1% for vaginal. Yea, it is less, but to claim you'd really need to be engaging in anal sex to have a relevantc hance of catching it is a myth. If you consider insertive intercourse the difference is even less, about 0.065% for anal sex, as compared to about 0.050% for vaginal sex.
Reply 16
Jonatan
This is NOT true. Yes, the chance is relatively low, but the chance of transmission from vaginal sex isn't very much less than for anal sex. The chance of transmission from receptive anal intercourse is about 0.5% as compared to 0.1% for vaginal. Yea, it is less, but to claim you'd really need to be engaging in anal sex to have a relevantc hance of catching it is a myth. If you consider insertive intercourse the difference is even less, about 0.065% for anal sex, as compared to about 0.050% for vaginal sex.


Have you ever been to a GUM clinic? There's a reason why they ask you questions about whether you've engaged in anal sex, or bucco-anal caresses or whatever weird question they also ask.
There's a reason why the incidence of HIV is so high among men who have sex with other men.
Reply 17
Sticky
How do you think people catch oral or genital herpes? By oozing blood onto each other?

Do some of you actually get out and learn stuff about life? :rolleyes:


I'm assuming the OP didn't get the straw and rub it all over their knob.

I wasn't aware that STD's were 'life' as it were, but I'm glad you've had enough experiance of them to be able to advise us.
Reply 18
Here's a chart which describes the different risks depending on the activity. It tells you what you can catch depending on the activity.

In theory there are STIs such as herpes or hepatitis that you can catch simply through physical contact or sweat. But you must always look at the risk. As for sharing straws, look at what you can catch through kissing. It's a lot less risky to share a straw.


http://www.tinynibbles.com/safesexchart.html
Reply 19
Sticky
Have you ever been to a GUM clinic? There's a reason why they ask you questions about whether you've engaged in anal sex, or bucco-anal caresses or whatever weird question they also ask.
There's a reason why the incidence of HIV is so high among men who have sex with other men.


Since you insist:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS#Transmission_and_prevention
Exposure Route Estimated infections per 10,000 exposures to an infected source
Blood Transfusion 9,000
Childbirth 2,500
Needle-sharing injection drug use 67
Receptive anal intercourse 50
Percutaneous needle stick 30
Receptive penile-vaginal intercourse 10
Insertive anal intercourse 6.5
Insertive penile-vaginal intercourse 5
Receptive oral intercourse 1
Insertive oral intercourse 0.5

The reason gay men are at a higher risk is that the first strands of the virus didn't transmit readily through vaginal sex, and there also wasn't a large amount of safe sex awareness in the gay community. That was 20 years ago. Today there are many strands of HIV that will transmit through vaginal sex, and safe sex education has put the number of new infections among gay men way lower. As an example, in their review of their blood donation policy, the National Blood service stated that whereas the number of new infections of HIV among gay men was lower than for straight men, the number of gay men with HIV was still high ( since many have already been infected).

HIV doesn't just transmit through anal sex. In fact, if you are "receiving" vaginal sex from someone HIV positive, you are at greater risk than if you "give" anal sex to someone HIV positive ( as you can see from the above). Vaginal sex isn't safe sex without a condom, and you can still catch it even if you are straight. Do you think some african countries have 50% gay people in them seeing that is the rate of HIV infections there? Seriously, wake up.