I've always gone with this because I trust what I'm told. It's not really about trust though. If someone says they don't have any issues, I believe them.

However, if you've been sexually active, then like Blondey said... you are having sex with all their partners basically. Some diseases lay dormant, there are no symptoms, but can be detected with testing.

It's not about being paranoid or a hypocondriact or anything like that. It's about being responsible in the era of when STD's are on an all time high and are increasing in numbers.... Apparently there are those who aren't using preventative precautions and aren't treating it seriously.

Maybe it's time we do. We have our hearts checked, our sugar, our cholesterol, and get screened for cancer... the sexual health and well being of humanity is just as important.

http://www.livescience.com/48100-sexually-transmitted-infections-50-states-map.html









Chlamydia — Rates of Reported Cases Among Women Aged 15–24 Years by State, United States and Outlying Areas, 2016





Estimated cases of curable STIs (gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis and trichomoniasis)

Asymptomatic STIs

Many STIs have no signs or symptoms (asymptomatic). Even with no symptoms, however, you can pass the infection to your sex partners. So it's important to use protection, such as a condom, during sex. And visit your doctor regularly for STI screening, so you can identify and treat an infection before you can pass it on.

Some of the following diseases, such as hepatitis, can also be transmitted without sexual contact, by coming into contact with an infected person's blood. Others, such as gonorrhea, can only be transmitted through sexual contact.

Chlamydia symptoms

Chlamydia is a bacterial infection of your genital tract. Chlamydia may be difficult to detect because early-stage infections often cause few or no signs and symptoms. When they do occur, they usually start one to three weeks after you've been exposed to chlamydia. Even when signs and symptoms occur, they're often mild and passing, making them easy to overlook.

Signs and symptoms may include:

Painful urination
Lower abdominal pain
Vaginal discharge in women
Discharge from the penis in men
Pain during sexual intercourse in women
Bleeding between periods in women
Testicular pain in men

Gonorrhea symptoms

Gonorrhea is a bacterial infection of your genital tract. It can also grow in your mouth, throat, eyes and anus. The first gonorrhea symptoms generally appear within 10 days after exposure. However, some people may be infected for months before signs or symptoms occur.

Signs and symptoms of gonorrhea may include:

Thick, cloudy or bloody discharge from the penis or vagina
Pain or burning sensation when urinating
Heavy menstrual bleeding or bleeding between periods
Painful, swollen testicles
Painful bowel movements
**** itching

Trichomoniasis symptoms

Trichomoniasis is a common STI caused by a microscopic, one-celled parasite called Trichomonas vaginalis. This organism spreads during sexual intercourse with someone who already has the infection.

The organism usually infects the urinary tract in men, but often causes no symptoms. Trichomoniasis typically infects the vagina in women. When trichomoniasis causes symptoms, they may appear within five to 28 days of exposure and range from mild irritation to severe inflammation.

Signs and symptoms may include:

Clear, white, greenish or yellowish vaginal discharge
Discharge from the penis
Strong vaginal odor
Vaginal itching or irritation
Itching or irritation inside the penis
Pain during sexual intercourse
Painful urination

HIV symptoms

HIV is an infection with the human immunodeficiency virus. HIV interferes with your body's ability to fight off viruses, bacteria and fungi that cause illness, and it can lead to AIDS, a chronic, life-threatening disease.

When first infected with HIV, you may have no symptoms. Some people develop a flu-like illness, usually two to six weeks after being infected. Still, the only way you know if you have HIV is to be tested.
Early signs and symptoms

Early HIV signs and symptoms may include:

Fever
Headache
Sore throat
Swollen lymph glands
Rash
Fatigue

These early signs and symptoms usually disappear within a week to a month and are often mistaken for those of another viral infection. During this period, you're highly infectious. More-persistent or -severe symptoms of HIV infection may not appear for 10 years or more after the initial infection.

As the virus continues to multiply and destroy immune cells, you may develop mild infections or chronic signs and symptoms such as:

Swollen lymph nodes — often one of the first signs of HIV infection
Diarrhea
Weight loss
Fever
Cough and shortness of breath

Late-stage HIV infection

Signs and symptoms of late-stage HIV infection include:

Persistent, unexplained fatigue
Soaking night sweats
Shaking chills or fever higher than 100.4 F (38 C) for several weeks
Swelling of lymph nodes for more than three months
Chronic diarrhea
Persistent headaches
Unusual, opportunistic infections

Genital herpes symptoms

Highly contagious, genital herpes is caused by a type of the herpes simplex virus (HSV) that enters your body through small breaks in your skin or mucous membranes. Most people with HSV never know they have it, because they have no signs or symptoms or the signs and symptoms are so mild they go unnoticed.

When signs and symptoms are noticeable, the first episode is generally the worst. Some people never have a second episode. Others, however, can have recurrent episodes for decades.

When present, genital herpes signs and symptoms may include:

Small red bumps, blisters (vesicles) or open sores (ulcers) in the genital, **** and nearby areas
Pain or itching around the genital area, buttocks and inner thighs

The initial symptom of genital herpes usually is pain or itching, beginning within a few weeks after exposure to an infected sexual partner. After several days, small red bumps may appear. They then rupture, becoming ulcers that ooze or bleed. Eventually, scabs form and the ulcers heal.

In women, sores can erupt in the vaginal area, external genitals, buttocks, anus or cervix. In men, sores can appear on the penis, scrotum, buttocks, anus or thighs, or inside the tube from the bladder through the penis (urethra).

Ulcers can make urination painful. You may also have pain and tenderness in your genital area until the infection clears. During an initial episode, you may have flu-like signs and symptoms, such as a headache, muscle aches and fever, as well as swollen lymph nodes in your groin.

In some cases, the infection can be active and contagious even when sores aren't present.

Human papillomavirus (HPV)
infection and genital warts symptoms

HPV infection is one of the most common types of STIs. Some forms put women at high risk of cervical cancer. Other forms cause genital warts. HPV usually has no signs or symptoms. The signs and symptoms of genital warts include:

Small, flesh-colored or gray swellings in your genital area
Several warts close together that take on a cauliflower shape
Itching or discomfort in your genital area
Bleeding with intercourse

Often, however, genital warts cause no symptoms. Genital warts may be as small as 1 millimeter in diameter or may multiply into large clusters.

In women, genital warts can grow on the vulva, the walls of the vagina, the area between the external genitals and the anus, and the cervix. In men, they may occur on the tip or shaft of the penis, the scrotum, or the anus. Genital warts can also develop in the mouth or throat of a person who has had oral sex with an infected person.

Hepatitis symptoms

Hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C are all contagious viral infections that affect your liver. Hepatitis B and C are the most serious of the three, but each can cause your liver to become inflamed.

Some people never develop signs or symptoms. But for those who do, signs and symptoms may occur several weeks after exposure and may include:

Fatigue
Nausea and vomiting
Abdominal pain or discomfort, especially in the area of your liver on your right side beneath your lower ribs
Loss of appetite
Fever
Dark urine
Muscle or joint pain
Itching
Yellowing of your skin and the whites of your eyes (jaundice)

Syphilis symptoms

Syphilis is a bacterial infection. The disease affects your genitals, skin and mucous membranes, but it can also involve many other parts of your body, including your brain and your heart.

The signs and symptoms of syphilis may occur in four stages — primary, secondary, latent and tertiary. There's also a condition known as congenital syphilis, which occurs when a pregnant woman with syphilis passes the disease to her unborn infant. Congenital syphilis can be disabling, even life-threatening, so it's important for a pregnant woman with syphilis to be treated.
Primary syphilis

The first sign of syphilis, which may occur from 10 days to three months after exposure, may be a small, painless sore (chancre) on the part of your body where the infection was transmitted, usually your genitals, rectum, tongue or lips. A single chancre is typical, but there may be multiple sores.

The sore typically heals without treatment, but the underlying disease remains and may reappear in the second (secondary) or third (tertiary) stage.

Secondary syphilis

Signs and symptoms of secondary syphilis may begin three to six weeks after the chancre appears, and may include:

Rash marked by red or reddish-brown, penny-sized sores over any area of your body, including your palms and soles
Fever
Enlarged lymph nodes
Fatigue and a vague feeling of discomfort
Soreness and aching

These signs and symptoms may disappear without treatment within a few weeks or repeatedly come and go for as long as a year.
Latent syphilis

In some people, a period called latent syphilis — in which no symptoms are present — may follow the secondary stage. Signs and symptoms may never return, or the disease may progress to the tertiary stage.

Tertiary syphilis

Without treatment, syphilis bacteria may spread, leading to serious internal organ damage and death years after the original infection.

Some of the signs and symptoms of tertiary syphilis include:

Lack of coordination
Numbness
Paralysis
Blindness
Dementia

Neurosyphilis

At any stage, syphilis can affect the nervous system. Neurosyphilis may cause no signs or symptoms, or it can cause:

Headache
Behavior changes
Movement problems

SOURCE: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sexually-transmitted-diseases-stds/in-depth/std-symptoms/art-20047081

I'm not trying to scare anyone but if you're not the least bit concerned about it, you're a deluded disrespectful fool.

Thanks Tom for the information and the info in the last post.

This actually surprised me, I thought for some reason it was more prevalent in the US than the rest of the World. It's not just a National concern.... It's Global... and could possibly be the very thing that wipes out human existence?

We're concerned about global warfare with bombs and chemicals destroying humanity and our existence... but ignoring some of the other things that could do the same thing.

I agree... I've kept on and on telling a friend of mine going to Thailand all the time... I'm talking about 3 times a year.
Thank God I only speak to him on the phone...Lol.

But imagine... He's been SO LUCKY that in 7 years, he has caught nothing.
Not even dorment, as he has been checked...But still.
That is one lucky guy. And I keep telling him to be careful, still he doesn't care.
I keep telling him: "Yep, until you get it, dude."

Doesn't bite on him.
Imagine... 3 times a YEAR???
That's pure luck!!

Recon im the later... got enough other shiznit in my life and well, considering the number of partners ive had is very low, and in my life maybe is about 5, im not really that worried. I doubt there will be a sixth.

Of course leave it to you to go all out on the facts...

Eh, only really had my heart checked, it still works. I got ran through the ringer going through disability... about all i need to worry with much now is my prostate

Are you sure that you're not pulling our legs?
Or are you just a very devoted and truthful person?

Pulling your leg on what Von?....

Mind you Stuball..
I understand the difference between having steady partners and roaming around, if you get my drift.

I posted those signs and symptoms because the first time I actually looked at that information I was worried that I had all of them and at that time I was only with my X.

It really doesn't matter how many people you have sex with.
It only matters if one of those people have it because the nature of the beast is multiplied my everyone each person you had sex with times every person they had sex with times every person they had sex with.

So, if you had sex with 10 people one year and they had sex with 10 people and each of those had sex with 10 people its likely that someone had an STD.
Getting tested regularly is the ONLY way to be sure.

Just having sex and getting tested is not enough because as you have read, many STDs lie dormant or have incubation periods. So, if you are promiscuous and have sex with a few different people in a relatively short time period, you could have contracted and then passed on an STD and not even know it.

Its been a few years since I had sex.
My tests show I'm clean but I will continue to get tested for 10 years after the last sexual encounter just to be sure.
The tests don't hurt and I don't feel embarrassed to request them. Its the responsible, adult thing to do. Plus it gives the doctor information vital to diagnosis and treatment of general health issues. With the tests in my records as negative, they can rule out STDs in their diagnosis right away.

A question for riverspirit:
How do you insert pictures in your posts, please?
(I know it's way off topic and it'll probably be moved.)

Oh... well, 1 was my first gf,.. 2nd was 1st wife, 3rd was my good friends sister, 4th was my 2nd wife, and 5 was a girl ive known since 1983 and was married to another friend of mine for 17 years..

No, im not pulling your leg..

Women never really seemed attracted to me...

No worries..

well then it makes sense.
Not attracted to you...Haha.
You been attractive enough to get married three times, so I don't really know about that..:)
Makes sense.... thanks for explaining...

Only married twice.. last was just a 6 year relationship,.. we were engaged.. but .. shnot happens.

I also haven't had sex with many different women.
I think my lifetime total is less than 15.

I don't really see sex as a competition and I don't see women as a conquest or a tally. For me, I need sex to mean something. I have sex with the women I care deeply for. To me, its the ultimate act of sharing and there is nothing more personal between to people.

I also know that there are few that think like I do.
I also know that even when there are those that share my beliefs, they may not have had those beliefs for very long.

I understand that I am not going to find a 57 year old virgin and I don't expect to find a woman that hasn't had a few partners in her lifetime.
But, at 57 I do expect her to be able to talk about and participate in interactions like an adult.

You also need to remember that there are vindictive, twisted people out there that will knowingly give you an STD. While that one person you are having sex with may not be one of those, you never know if she experienced one of those before she met you and just ashamed to tell you.

Well, sorry that i read it as three times... But two times is twice as much as me still.

Hit the QUOTE link at the bottom of a post with a picture in it and look at the coding.
Highlight only the url part of the image and past the url of the image you want to post inbetween the code brackets and post the reply.

There is a thread dedicated to practicing BBCodes in the HELP section.