Do you get an STI from a dirty toilet seat? Does the pill protect against STIs? And can you get an STI from oral sex? We'll put together the familiar fables and the accompanying facts for you, so that you know when you're at risk of getting an STI and when you don't have to worry about it.

Can you get an STI from a dirty toilet seat?

FABLE: You can get an STI by sitting on a dirty toilet seat.

FACT: An STI is only transmissible through contact between mucous membranes and body fluids. Mucous membranes can be found in your mouth and genitals. If you come into contact with semen, vaginal fluid or blood, you run the risk of contracting an STI. However, the organisms that cause STIs survive outside the body for a very short time: you won't get an STI from dirty toilet seats.

Does the pill protect against contracting an STI?

FABLE: If you take the pill, you can't get an STI.

FACT: The contraceptive pill protects you against unwanted pregnancies. The hormones in the pill prevent ovulation, so you can't get pregnant. However, the pill does not protect you against STIs, because it does not interfere with the contact between mucous membranes and body fluids.

Can you catch an STI with oral and/or anal sex?

FABLE: You don't get an STI from oral or anal sex.

FACT: An STI is transmissible on contact between mucous membranes in the genitals, rectum (anal), mouth and throat (oral). Through oral or anal sex you can simply catch an STI: the risk is just as great as with vaginal sex.

Once you have had an STI, can you catch the same STI again or are you resistant to that STI?

FABLE: You can only get a certain STI once.

FEIT: Ben je besmet met hiv of herpes (soa), dan zit je daar voor de rest van je leven aan vast. Chlamydia, gonorroe en syfilis zijn prima te behandelen en kun je geheel van genezen. Na genezing blijf je echter vatbaar voor deze soa’s: heb je al eens chlamydia gehad, dan kun je dit later in je leven nogmaals oplopen.

If you use double protection, do you also have twice the risk of contracting an STI?

FABLE: Two condoms offer twice as much protection against an STI.

FACT: A condom protects you from STIs. If you use two condoms at the same time, cracks and leaks can easily occur because the layers of rubber move over each other. The risk of an STI with two condoms at the same time is therefore greater. Always use condoms properly to prevent an STI.

Anonymous STI test at Onedayclinic

Ben je bang dat je een soa hebt opgelopen? Doe dan anoniem een soa test bij een van de soa klinieken van Onedayclinic in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Den haag, Eindhoven, Nijmegen of Rotterdam. Laat je testen op hiv, gonorroe, chlamydia, syfilis en hepatitis b en c. De uitslag van de reguliere test is er in 1-3 werkdagen en de bij de sneltest heb je de uitslag al na 90 min. Lees meer over soa’s of maak direct een afspraak voor een soa test.