Can You Have an STI if You’ve Never Been Sexually Active?

When it comes to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), most people assume that sexual activity is the only way they can be contracted. However, the reality is more nuanced. 

Sexually transmitted infections are a public health concern in Canada — rates have been increasing steadily for decades. STIs can cause a variety of symptoms and lead to pregnancy complications, infertility, cancer, and other serious health problems. It’s important to note that STIs were commonly known as a sexually transmitted disease (STD), but the name was changed to infection to reduce stigma and account for the fact that many infections are asymptomatic and not all infections lead to disease.

Based on its name, it’s easy to assume that STIs can only be transmitted sexually. While sexual contact is the primary method of transmission, STIs can also be spread through non-sexual means. Understanding these different pathways is crucial for protecting yourself and others.

Sexual ways to contract an STI 

Most commonly, STIs are transmitted through vaginal, oral, and anal sex by someone who is STI-positive. But they can be spread through non-sexual ways too, such as from person to person by kissing or engaging in skin-to-skin touching and through contact with bodily fluids, like semen, saliva, vaginal secretions, breast milk, and blood.

It’s easy to unknowingly transmit an STI to another person since many STIs don’t come with obvious symptoms. That’s why it’s so important to get tested regularly and practice safe sex (such as always using condoms or dental dams).

In summary, STIs can be transmitted through any sexual activity that includes:

• The mouth, lips, throat, or saliva
• Pre-ejaculation (pre-cum), semen, vaginal fluid, anal secretions, blood or breast milk
• The vaginal canal, vulva, penis, or testicles
• The internal anal canal, anal entrance, or perineum

Therefore, sexual acts that can transmit an STI can include:

• Kissing
• Oral-nipple stimulation
• Oral sex
• Intercourse, including anal and vaginal
• Hand sex, including anal fingering, vaginal fingering, vulva stimulation, and hand jobs

Non-sexual ways to contract STIs

There are a few myths about the non-sexual ways you can contract an STI. Ever heard that you can get one by sitting on a public toilet seat? Or soaking in a hot tub? Those ideas aren’t based on science, and therefore, they aren’t something you need to worry about. In fact, STIs can’t exist outside the body’s mucosal membranes for very long. 

However, STIs can spread through non-sexual activities by getting into contact with bodily fluids, including semen, saliva, vaginal secretions, breast milk, and blood. For example, you could get an STI by:

• Sharing personal items like razors and towels: Bloodborne infections like HIV and hepatitis B and C can be transmitted by using a contaminated toothbrush or razor if blood is present
• Sharing unwashed sex toys: STIs that can be spread through toys include chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, herpes, and the HPV (human papillomavirus)
• Blood transfusions or contaminated needles: A person infected with a bloodborne STI like HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) or hepatitis could transmit it to others through shared blood or needles. In Canada, all blood donations are tested for HIV and hepatitis. 
• Getting a tattoo or piercing: An infected person’s blood could be spread to others using shared supplies
• Skin-to-skin contact with open sores or lesions
• Exchange or contact with body fluids including platonic mouth kissing: An infected person’s bodily fluids could be spread to another
• Breastfeeding and giving birth: An infected mother could pass some infections to her child.
• Self-inoculation Touching your eyes, nose or mouth can transmit viruses to other parts of your body. 
• Eating contaminated food: Since Hepatitis A is passed through the fecal-oral route, someone can transmit the infection if they don’t wash their hands after using the washroom.
• Touching contaminated fabric: Trichomonas vaginalis can live on damp fabrics for an hour, and pubic lice [crabs] can be spread through shared material goods like bedding or towels.

Preventative Measures

Oftentimes, people don’t know they’ve contracted an STI and therefore don’t know they’re at risk of spreading it. And it’s understandable — many STIs don’t cause any symptoms, so it’s easy to not realize you have an infection.

That’s why regular STI screenings are so important. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, it’s important to get tested every year or more if:

• You have a new sexual partner
• You have any bumps, discharge, rashes, or other changes to your body
• You or your partners are having sex with other people
• You had sex with someone who has an STI 
• You didn’t use a condom or the condom broke

To limit your chances of contracting an STI, you can:

• Abstain from sexual activity
• Limit your number of sexual partners 
• Limit sexual activity to a monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner 
• Engage in open communication with your sexual partner(s) and get tested together
• Use physical barriers such as condoms and dental dams 
• Avoid sharing medical equipment and personal items (including toothbrushes, towels, razors, needles and syringes)
• Clean sex toys properly after every use
• Wash your hands after sexual activity

You can also get the HPV vaccine. The 9vHPV vaccine is recommended for Canadians between the ages of 9 and 26 and can be given to those 27 and older who are at risk of exposure to HPV. It protects against nine types of HPV that can cause various types of cancer and genital warts. 

The good news is that contracting an STI through nonsexual behaviours is rare — for example, it equates to less than 1% of bloodborne STI transmissions. Those most at-risk of contracting an STI in a non-sexual setting are babies (from an infected mother), people sharing drug injection equipment and people in a situation where they have direct exposure to the bodily fluids of an infected person.

When to seek medical advice

The best way to stay safe is to practice safe sex and to be on top of your STI status. When in doubt, and definitely once a year, ask your healthcare provider to test you, or pop into a clinic. Request testing for any or all infections, or give your healthcare provider a run-down on your sexual history and they may recommend the best tests for you. 

Many STIs can be diagnosed quickly and treated easily — and you definitely want to catch one before you spread it to others, and before it causes you any serious health problems.

If you have any questions about STIs and/or symptoms — but can’t get access to a primary care provider — consider seeing a primary care provider on Maple. Primary care providers, including doctors and nurse practitioners, can talk to you about any symptoms you may have, offer advice on having safe sex or talking to a partner about STI testing, and help you find a place to go for testing. 

The information presented here is for educational purposes and is not meant to replace the advice from your medical professional. Virtual care is not meant for medical emergencies. If you are experiencing an emergency like chest pain or difficulty breathing, for example, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.