# Non-sexual diseases transmitted sexually? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2001, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-diseases-transmitted-sexually/65622 "2001-05-16T16:30:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2001, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-diseases-transmitted-sexually/65622/1 "2001-05-16T16:30:42Z")
OK, this may seem like a bizarre question, but can you catch a non-sexual disease (e.g. a cold) through an unprotected sexual act (oral or intercourse)? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2001, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-diseases-transmitted-sexually/65622/2 "2001-05-16T17:14:11Z")
IANAD but I believe cold viruses are transmitted into the body primarily by the mouth, nose and eyes. Could a cold virus that happens to be resident on your private parts be transferred sexually to someone else? I guess it’s possible to catch a cold that way… oral sex seems like a way for it to find it’s way into your mouth… but how could you tell since by merely breathing on them you could transfer the virus more efficiently anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2001, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-diseases-transmitted-sexually/65622/3 "2001-05-16T17:29:58Z")
“…can you catch a non-sexual disease (e.g. a cold) through an unprotected sexual act (oral or intercourse)?” Yes. Any infection that can be transmitted through intimate contact that does not include sex (e.g., cold, flu, TB, measles, etc.) can be transmitted through sexual contact since it is difficult to have sexual contact without intimate contact. What makes sexually transmitted infections sexually transmitted infections is that they (generally) cannot be transmitted without sexual contact (or at least getting to 3rd base). And yes, it is theoretically possible for two people wearing space suits with holes cut out for their genitals to have sex and even to transmit a sexually transmitted infection without transmitting a more easily transmissible infection (e.g., a cold) but I don’t think this scenario is common enough to worry about (at least not where I live). ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2001, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-diseases-transmitted-sexually/65622/4 "2001-05-16T21:46:48Z")
I’d like to see a cite that says that colds can be spread sexually. From what I’ve read, they are spread from aerosolized respiratory fluids and - most commonly - when you touch someone’s hand (who has a cold), and then touch your own eye or nose. You are more likely to catch a cold that way than via kissing, even. I don’t think the cold virus resides on the genitals. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2001, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-diseases-transmitted-sexually/65622/5 "2001-05-17T01:06:46Z")
“I’d like to see a cite that says that colds can be spread sexually. From what I’ve read, they are spread from aerosolized respiratory fluids and - most commonly - when you touch someone’s hand (who has a cold), and then touch your own eye or nose. You are more likely to catch a cold that way than via kissing, even. I don’t think the cold virus resides on the genitals.” The virus doesn’t have to be aerosolized; it can also travel far and wide in snot. An infected person wipes their runny nose with their hand, uses a pencil, you use the pencil, you pick your nose… You get the picture. Colds are transmitted quite well in settings such as schools and between parents and children. I suppose if you have less contact with your sex partner when you have sex than you do on a daily basis with your children, parents, or classmates, then you don’t have to worry about spreading a cold sexually. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2001, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-diseases-transmitted-sexually/65622/6 "2001-05-17T01:31:54Z")
Strep can be tranmitted via oral sex. I have contracted it twice that way. Not pleasant. ---
**Author:** ![LisaRx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@LisaRx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LisaRx)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2001, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-diseases-transmitted-sexually/65622/7 "2001-05-17T05:01:06Z")
I was going to make a guess of staph infections–Yuck! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2001, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-diseases-transmitted-sexually/65622/8 "2001-05-17T10:57:57Z")
It’s pretty unlikely that you’d have sex with someone without kissing them on the mouth at some point, so you could easily catch the cold that way, so you wouldn’t actually know exactly how you caught it. Or am I the only person that does this and completely mad? [Pedantic]In any case, if you can catch something through the act of intercourse, it is by definition a sexually transmitted disease, even if it’s not up there on the ‘big list’ with herpes, AIDS and syph.[/pedantic] ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2001, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-diseases-transmitted-sexually/65622/9 "2001-05-17T14:38:43Z")
“I don’t think the cold virus resides on the genitals” If you don’t wash your hands before peeing, a guy could get the germs down there with his hands. Rhinovirus germs last a long time. How do the germs get from there to a persons eyes, nose or mouth? Guess. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-sexual-diseases-transmitted-sexually/65622/10 "2001-05-17T22:21:08Z")
So don’t put your penis in your partner’s eye or nose during intercourse. (If you catch a cold from kissing during intercourse, it is not “sexually transmitted.”)