Puberty Sex information - Teenage Boys

The scary part is that the most common symptom of an STD is NO symptom, especially in girls! The consequences to your future, if you get an STD, can be devastating. (Leading infectious disease specialist doctor - USA)

Think!

If you have already had sex, this section is not about whether you are a good person or a bad person. The purpose of this section on STD’s is to get you thinking for yourself.

What is a STD/STI?

A Sexually Transmitted Disease/Infection (STD/STI) is a disease you can get by having sex with someone else who is infected with any of several germs that cause these infections. Infections may occur inside your body or outside on your body - usually in or on your penis, anus, skin, or mouth (and the vagina in girls). The scary part is that the most common symptom of an STD is NO symptom, especially in girls. This means you can't tell whether someone has an STD just by looking at her or him.

Take responsibility for yourself. Your sex partner will not do it for you!

How common are STDs?

Every year, in the U.S. alone, there are about 3 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) in teenagers and about 1 million teenage girls get pregnant. As recently as 8 years ago, HIV infection was the 6th leading cause of death in young people 15-24 years old. (58)

To see the worldwide incidence of STD’s, check out this site: Worldwide STD statistics

Disease details

If you don’t want to get detailed information on these diseases or see what they do to your body, then don’t go to these links below.

• Gonorrhea
• Syphilis
• Chlamydia
• Herpes
• Genital warts
• Chancroid
• Crabs
• HIV/AIDS
• Hepatitis

There are more STD’s but these are the most common.

It is important to understand that having sex may carry severe consequences and that condoms (rubbers) don’t always work the way they are advertised to work.

Knowing what the risks are may help prevent you from making a terrible mistake.

Is oral sex "safe sex"?

Absolutely not! You can get any STD through oral sex, whether you are giving or receiving oral sex (sucking or licking).

The term "safe sex" primarily refers to the use of a condom every time you have any sex with another person. Remember, condoms are not totally reliable, so there is no such thing as totally "safe sex" (see the page Safe Sex)!

What do I do next?

Make a decision! The only way you can be totally sure about staying free of an STD is to choose not to have sex until you are married.

Do not use this site or your friends' help for medical advice to try and diagnose your problem. See your own doctor if you think there is a problem.

More information

If you have further questions or concerns about STDs, ask Dr. Mike, an internationally known Clinical Microbiologist specializing in STDs. He has worked extensively with teenage boys and contributed all the information on the STD pages. (Change the (at) to @ and the (dot) to . in the email address below)

Tell Dr Mike how old you are, what country you are from and then write your message. You will be emailing a specialist offering his time to help young guys! Your email will be treated confidentially and erased after he answers you!