What You Need
To Know About STIs*/STDs

There are approximately 30 Sexually Transmittable
Diseases (STDs) identified throughout the world.

According to the organization Beforeplay.org, you can get STD bacterial infections chlamydia, syphilis or gonorrhea in your mouth and/or throat and could develop genital warts in your mouth. Herpes is commonly passed between the genitals and the mouth, and HIV can be passed through cuts in the mouth or small abrasions.

While these infections are most often spread by direct contact with body fluids—semen, vaginal fluids or blood— a sore on the genitals or mouth can also provide an entryway for the germs. For some, transmission can result simply from skin-to-skin contact.

According to CDC.gov:
Hepatitis B can be transmitted through sexual contact when blood, semen, or another body fluid from a person infected with the hepatitis B virus enters the body of someone who is not infected. It can also be transmitted by sharing needles, syringes, or other drug-injection equipment; or from mother to baby at birth. It develops in the liver first.

Hepatitis CAlthough the risk of transmission from sexual contact is believed to be low. The risk increases for people who have multiple sex partners, have a sexually transmitted disease, engage in rough sex, or are infected with HIV.

*An STI is a sexually transmitted infection, an STD is a sexually transmitted disease.