I personally continue to be amazed for how long withdrawal actually works. That is, of course, until it doesn't. Considering the chance of geting pregnant during one unprotected cycle is 20%, and that "only" 80% of couples will get pregnant within the first 12 months of actually trying, this goes a way in explaining why withdrawal is 80% effective.
Getting tested for STD's is not a "waste of time". In the male as well as the female, chlamydia is often asymptomatic and is a leading cause of infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease, and chronic pelvic pain in females. In fact, we screen ALL pregnant women for chlamydia and gonorrhea. If you have been exposed, that places you at high risk and therefore warrants testing.
While some HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) causes warts, some types cause cervical cancer. In fact, we use HPV testing to determine risks of developing cervical cancer and need for treatment with abnormal pap smears. True, there is no point in testing men for HPV- either you have the warts in which case you are contagious or you don't, in which case the risk of giving/getting it from someone else is low. Same for herpes. Except that women can have these infections IN their vaginas or on their cervix and guess what? Unless you're a gyno and brought your speculum and flashlight, you ain't gonna see them and the period during which most of these viruses are most easily spread is during the first period of infection when you don't yet know you have them.
HSV (Herpes Simplex Virus) is an easy blood test but tells little except that:
1. Most people have HSV I (oral) and
2. It can tell us if an exposure/infection with HSV II was recent or longstanding.
You are right in one thing, we prefer to use a swab- something called a Tzanck smear- to get a definitive diagnosis of herpes from a lesion. The main ideas of all these tests are to prevent further transmission by diagnosing, treating when possible, and education on how to prevent transmission.
People also forget syphilis. Usually the initial lesions are not noticed and it is often only blood testing that makes the diagnosis. This is also a standard test done on ALL pregnant patients.
And lastly, viruses like HPV and HIV are NOT cumulative. That is a total crock. It's like a coin toss, either you get it from the exposure or you don't. The only thing cumulative about it is that the more exposures, the higher your chances that you will have it after enough time. It doesn't "buid up;" the only thing that builds up is your odds. You could get it the first time, you could get it the 1000th time. That has to do with nothing more than a basic understanding of probability and statistics.
tbd
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