How to Protect yourself from STIs & HIV
Use a Condom:
Condoms prevent sexual bodily fluids or blood to pass from one person to another.
With correct and consistent condom use, Latex condoms are highly effective at preventing the transmission of HIV and some other sexually transmitted diseases. “Natural” or lambskin condoms do not provide sufficient protection against HIV infection.
Sharing Needles and Syringes:
Transmission occurs when a person uses the same syringe with a HIV+ve person without first cleaning it. The reuse of a blood-contaminated needles or syringes by another person can be an effective means of transmission because a large quantity of blood can be injected directly into the bloodstream.
Although HIV does not generally survive well outside the body, it can survive for long periods of time (over 28 days) if hermetically sealed in syringe.
Regularly get tested for STIs & HIV:
Know your HIV status. Everyone should be tested for HIV at least once. If you are at increased risk for HIV, you may need to get tested for HIV more than once a year.
If you have HIV, you can get medical care, treatment, and supportive services to help you stay healthy and reduce your risk of transmitting the virus to others.
Sticking to the Right Sexual Partner
Abstain from sexual activity or be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner.
Limit your number of sex partners. The fewer partners you have, the less likely you are to encounter someone who is infected with HIV or another STD.
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination
HPV is a virus that is spread through direct contact. i.e. skin to skin contact, sexual contact including vaginal sex, oral sex, anal sex, even handjobs. Basically any sexual contact and condoms offer zero protection against HPV.
Among other things, it causes genital warts. For those of you who have not suffered from genital warts before, you might not fully appreciate the mental anguish and anxiety it brings. For those of you who have, you know exactly what I am talking about.
The HPV vaccine will afford protection against certain HPV-related conditions and cancers in males.
Genital warts are these really ugly fleshy looking things that can grow around your pubic area, penis, vagina, anus and basically everywhere down south. They are ugly, embarrassing and very difficult to get rid of.
Treatment usually involves multiple sessions of painful laser or freezing treatments. Even then, warts can still recur and are even deemed to be ‘incurable’.
HPV in men mostly cause warts but it can also increase the risk of anal cancer especially in HIV positive individuals. HPV has also been linked to throat, anal cancer and penile cancer in men.