# Chances of acquiring STDs **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 7, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291 "2010-04-07T16:41:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![curious\_mind\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5e9695/32.png) [@curious\_mind\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curious_mind_1)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/1 "2010-04-07T16:41:07Z")
Over the past 4 years, I’ve seen maybe 15 escorts. Just random sex flings to satisfy my urge. But I’m a married man of 12yrs. I’ve used condoms on all but 2 occasions (1 being back in 2007 and the last one being in mar 2009 for 1 min of unprotected sex). I did an HIV test after the 2007 encounter and it was negative) My last encounter was in Nov 2009. I’ve had no STD symptoms of any kind the whole time. Now my wife and I don’t have sex often. Actually rarely due to a condition of hers. But she doesn’t know I fool around. So I find out the one time we do have sex that she is pregnant. Anyway, my question is What are the chances of me having an STD and passing it to my pregnant wife and unborn baby? I know everyone will say “Go get tested” But I would like to know the chances of getting an STD. Are my odds better knowing that I haven’t had any symptoms? I read HIV is very difficult to get for a male even if you have sex with a HIV positive female. ---
**Author:** ![elninost0rm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@elninost0rm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elninost0rm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/2 "2010-04-07T16:47:34Z")
I’m not a fan of your behavior, so I won’t bother digging for empirical evidence to back up any sort of claim I make. On that note, get tested regularly and ideally after each encounter. Your chances of contraction are pretty high, or so I hear. Based purely on the biology, I would fathom a guess that it’s hit-or-miss. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/3 "2010-04-07T16:51:03Z")
There are likely too many factors at play for anyone to tell you what the odds are. I can tell you that escorts are a high-risk group. There are **many** STDs that you can acquire and either never experience any symptoms, or first experience/notice the symptoms years down the line. These include but are not limited to herpes, syphilis and HPV – and HIV, of course. A condom doesn’t even protect you from herpes or HPV, as you can contract both from skin-to-skin contact on areas like your balls, where the condom isn’t covering you. Get tested. If you come up positive for anything, man up and tell your wife that she also needs to be tested. I’m not judging you for stepping outside of your marriage to get your needs met, but I don’t think it’s excusable to put your wife and child at risk because of your behavior. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/4 "2010-04-07T16:51:35Z")
Even though you expect this answer: **jesus fucking christ on a cracker, go get tested.** Here’s the thing about statistics- sure, you might only have a 1/500 chance of contracting HIV from unprotected sex with an HIV positive person, but that’s an awfully big risk to take. Sure, you might be the lucky one who gets it on the 500th or 416th time, but some folks still do get it the first time. 1/4 people 18-25 has herpes. Herpes can do a lot of awful things to that baby your wife is carrying. Many STDS have no symptoms in a male and be in you for a very long time without ever showing up. They will fuck your wife and baby up,though. **GO GET TESTED.** And Jesus Christ, stop having unprotected sex with hookers, then banging your wife unprotected. Awful. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/5 "2010-04-07T16:54:21Z")
It’s hard to say what the odds are. Obviously, it depends on (1) how likely an escort is to have an STD, (2) how likely a man is to catch said STD from said escort, and (3) how likely said STD is to remain asymptomatic and undetected. All of these things are definitely _possible_. For what it’s worth: [How do men get sexually transmitted diseases?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2237/how-do-men-get-sexually-transmitted-diseases) [Do condoms protect against STDs other than HIV? STD-wise, how risky is oral sex?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2264/do-condoms-protect-against-stds-other-than-hiv) [Update: What are your chances of getting HIV?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2342/update-what-are-your-chances-of-getting-hiv) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/6 "2010-04-07T16:54:32Z")
Your chances of getting/having herpes or HPV are really high. About [1 in 4 adult Americans has genital herpes](http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/stds-hiv-safer-sex/herpes-4271.htm) and most people don’t have any or many symptoms, and it can be [passed to a newborn during childbirth](http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/genital-herpes/DS00179/DSECTION=complications), especially if the mother becomes infected late in pregnancy and has her first outbreak around childbirth. [Most people get HPV](http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/stds-hiv-safer-sex/hpv-4272.htm) at one point or another; many infections will only be present for a year or so, but some don’t go away. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/7 "2010-04-07T16:54:58Z")
A prostitute who agrees to go bareback with you will make the same agreement with any other trick who has enough cash in his pocket. And since prostitutes, in general, have a much larger number of sexual partners, the risk that one who routinely goes without protection is infected with _something_ is rather high. As far as female-to-male transmission of HIV, you are sort of right in that it is less common than male-to-female. However, that does not make it anywhere near impossible. If you are going to be a client of the sex industry, be a responsible one. Get tested, and for god’s sake man, use a condom. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/8 "2010-04-07T16:56:41Z")
> [@curious\_mind](#): > > in mar 2009 for 1 min of unprotected sex FYI - Germs, viruses, bacteria, etc., do not wear watches. Any contact is contact, no matter how short the time, and that is all it takes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/9 "2010-04-07T17:11:55Z")
Note that the 1 in 4 figure for herpes is for the general public. The figure is much higher for prostitutes and those who frequent them. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/10 "2010-04-07T17:41:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Note that the 1 in 4 figure for herpes is for the general public. The figure is much higher for prostitutes and those who frequent them. Great point. [Per this page:](http://www.pregnancy-info.net/stds_herpes_pregnancy.html) > [@](#): > > While few newborns are ever actually infected with the HSV virus before or at the time of birth, those that are can develop serious complications. T **he herpes virus can affect the child’s internal organs as well as central nervous system.** If left untreated, **the infection can prove to be fatal.** **For the small percentage of children that do survive, the virus can affect their eyes or lead to severe mental and developmental retardation.** Even a local infection of the skin, eyes or mucus membranes can lead to more serious complications if it is not treated. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/11 "2010-04-07T18:09:44Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > FYI - Germs, viruses, bacteria, etc., do not wear watches. Of course not. They don’t have wrists. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/12 "2010-04-07T19:58:10Z")
If you’re gonna cheat on your wife, at least be responsible. Get tested for STDs regularly. I am not going to judge you, but as long as there is a one in a billion chance that’s one too many. Especially since you can get tested anonymously. Let’s look at it like this, there are healtcare workers who have been accidently stuck with needle and have gotten HIV. Just stuck one time and they are now HIV+ AND there are also healthcare workers that have pricked themsleves many times and are HIV free. You see what I’m getting at here. The odds mean NOTHING if you come down with it. It’s like the lotto, the odds are high against winning but if enough people play, enough times, eventually SOMEONE is going to hit it. Also STDs in men don’t always cause symptoms. You can be asymptomatic I really doubt the OP came here to get statistics. You can go to [NIH.GOV](http://NIH.GOV) and look them up. He came to get reassurance. So go an Google anonymous STD testing and also your state and city. Obviously you must love your wife or you’d just leave her. So there’s no point hurting someone you love. Get tested and if positive get treated. And as long as you have sex get tested on a routine basis, like once ever three months (or whatever the clinic recommended.) People in those STD testing clinics aren’t going to judge you, they don’t even care so long as you pay the bill. You’ll be just another face in a faceless crowd of patients. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/13 "2010-04-07T20:06:58Z")
Hey guys. How likely am I to catch something if I share heroin needles with a prostitute? That’s totally safe, right? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/14 "2010-04-07T20:08:34Z")
> [@belladonna](#): > > A prostitute who agrees to go bareback with you will make the same agreement with any other trick who has enough cash in his pocket. This. I know high-end escorts who are (pardon the pun) positively anal when it comes to condoms, safe sex and getting checked for STDs. In many ways, they’re probably a safer bet than a random drunken fling with a college kid too stupid and ashamed to demand a condom every time and too stupid and poor to get tested regularly. But as soon as you sleep with a prostitute who doesn’t insist on a condom, all bets are off. That is high risk behavior, and unless you offered them a million bucks for the night chances are it wasn’t a one-time thing. You are fucking everyone she’s fucked before you, and then bringing your wife in on the fun, without her consent. As **DiosaBellissima** pointed out, many STDs (including chlamydia, herpes, HPV, gonorrhea) that can wreak havoc on women, render them infertile and be passed along to their children don’t produce symptoms in some men (or some women). ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/15 "2010-04-07T20:09:01Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Hey guys. How likely am I to catch something if I share heroin needles with a prostitute? That’s totally safe, right? Oh you’ll be fine! I just did that last week - no probs. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/16 "2010-04-07T20:10:05Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Hey guys. How likely am I to catch something if I share heroin needles with a prostitute? That’s totally safe, right? As long as you only did it for a minute. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/17 "2010-04-07T20:14:38Z")
> [@otternell](#): > > Oh you’ll be fine! I just did that last week - no probs. > [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > As long as you only did it for a minute. Cool, thanks! I love the fast replies here. ---
**Author:** ![yuliya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/f6c823/32.png) [@yuliya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yuliya)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/18 "2010-04-07T20:14:46Z")
This is a joke, right? ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/19 "2010-04-07T20:21:16Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Hey guys. How likely am I to catch something if I share heroin needles with a prostitute? That’s totally safe, right? Only if the prostitute is from [Swaziland.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_HIV/AIDS_adult_prevalence_rate) Seriously though, get tested. After a scare a little while ago (due to a false positive my g/f had as it turns out). Things like Gonorrhea and Chlamydia can lay dormant for years while still being able to transmit it. And as stated by others, they can really wreak havoc. As an aside, the night before my HIV test was probably the worst night of my life. It’s good to know you’re negative though no matter how low risk you think you are. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291/20 "2010-04-07T20:25:07Z")
More than zero. Which should be plenty to push you to go get tested, since your wife and now baby are involved. I know I’m repeating what others have said, but you seem to need to hear it - lots of STDs are symptomless in many people, or the symptoms can appear to be something else. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-of-acquiring-stds/535291.md?page=2)