Dear Counselor, can a person have a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) and not know it?
Submitted by Counselor at SchoolNet on 22nd August, 2009
Yes. Some Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) do not present any signs and symptoms especially among women. Chlamydia is one of the most common treatable STIs but about three-quarters of the women and about half of the men with Chlamydia have no STI symptoms. Many other STIs can also lie dormant for months or even years without showing any symptoms.
STIs which show no signs or symptoms are called asymptomatic STIs. It is very easy to have an STI and not know about it and you can easily pass it to other people without even knowing it.
Although a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) may not be making you feel sick right now, it does not mean that it is not having an effect on your or your sexual partner’s health. Left untreated, some STIs can cause long-term damage to the reproductive tract such as pelvic inflammatory disease and make it difficult or impossible to have children.
The answer is yes there are some sexually transmitted infections which one can have and show no signs for a long time.It is important to know what STI is.rthese are illnesses that have a significant probability of transmission between humans or animals by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex. While in the past, these illnesses have mostly been referred to as STDs or VD, in recent years the term sexually transmitted infection (STI) has been preferred, as it has a broader range of meaning; a person may be infected, and may potentially infect others, without showing signs of disease. Some STIs can also be transmitted via the use of IV(intra-Vaginal) drug needles after its use by an infected person, as well as through childbirth or breastfeeding.You should be very careful therefore before you get invilved into unprotected sex, first have athoriugh tes done on both you and yopur partner.