Danielle Lapierre: Hi, I am Danielle Lapierre. I am the coordinator of Health Education at George Mason University. It's part of the Office of Alcohol, Drug and Health Education. Today we will be talking about safer sex. This section will specifically address sexually transmitted infections and testing. It's really important to get testing if you are any engaging in any sexual activity. The only 100% way to be sure that you are not going to get a sexually transmitted infection is abstinence. That means not engaging in any sexual activity, oral sex, anal sex or vaginal sex.

So, basically there are several, maybe hundred STIs that exist out there. And the reason why I am using STI, you have probably heard it before referred to as sexual transmitted disease or STD, is because there is really a negative stigma associated with the word disease. When you think disease, there is a symptom. But in fact most sexually transmitted infections have no symptoms at all. So, it's really important that if you are sexually active that you get tested at least once a year. If you are a woman during your normal pap smear this is a great idea and if you are a man during your normal physical.

There are different type of tests that exist depending on the sexually transmitted infection. And if you are a man or a woman there are cultures or swabs that will take from your cervix, your urethra, or the vaginal canal. You can also get blood testing depending on the STI. HIV and Syphilis are examples of blood testing. There is also oral testing as well, specifically related to HIV or Human Immuno Deficiency Virus. Oral testing is basically a inside swab of your - the culture in your mouth, of your cheek. You get results within two weeks for the OraSure test. There is also an OraQuick test, which you get preliminary results within 20 minutes. You can tested in your community. Usually if you live in an urban area, there is the Department of Health, you can always make that check out there and they usually provide free testing for anybody.

You can also go to your regular clinician and ask them to do all types of test, because there are so many types of STIs out there. You want to make sure that you really cover anything. There is also another way to protect against sexually transmitted infections. There is a new vaccination out there for Human Papillomavirus, also protects against Cervical Cancer. HPV is an STI that can lead to genital warts. It's really important that if you are between the ages of 9 to 26 and you are a woman, if you are sexually active or not, if you currently have HPV or not, you acquire this vaccination. You can get from your local clinician, your family physician and some local STI clinics, though the Department of Healths will also provide you with the vaccination.

The reason why it's really important is that, there is a high risk of Cervical Cancer if you have contracted HPV and HPV has percentages and statistics that show that a lot of sexually active woman transmit or receive HPV through sexual activity. So, this is really just an introduction for you for saver sex and how to protect yourself when you are engaging in safer sex or any types of sexual activity. It's really important that you seek additional information if you are engaging in sex, you could talk to your local health care provider about safer sex.