What Are Common STD Symptoms and Risk Factors?

Key Takeaways

Did you have unprotected sex with someone and are unsure if you caught something?

Happens all the time. That’s why they call them one-night stands. You wake up next to someone you don’t really know much about—their past relationships, their sexual history—and with the big question: “Did I catch an STD?”

Surprisingly, we have seen STD exposure even among known sexual partners, especially if they are not in a monogamous relationship.

Just because you have not had other sexual partners does not mean your partner hasn't—whether now or in the past.

How do you know your monogamous partner didn’t contract an STD from a prior sexual encounter and is just a carrier without any symptoms? And then there are STDs such as herpes, which spread via skin-to-skin contact, or HIV, which can be transmitted through needle sharing or blood transfusions, just to name a few examples. More on this later…

Common STD Symptoms

One indication that you may have caught an STD is the appearance of the following common symptoms:

• Unusual discharge from the urethra, vagina, or anus, which may be pus-like, watery, or foul-smelling.
• A burning sensation when urinating or pain before, during, and after sex.
• Frequent urination, especially at night.
• Swelling of the testes, vulva, or lymph nodes.
• Blood in your urine or yellow urine.
• Rashes, sores, or spots around the genitals or mouth.
• Pelvic pain or pain between periods.
• Fever, headaches, muscle, or joint pain.
• Weight loss, hair loss.
• Diarrhea.
• Night sweats and chills.

The list above is not exhaustive but provides a snapshot of the most common STD symptoms.

Sometimes, symptoms never manifest despite the STD progressing in your body. Other times, they appear—but not immediately.

Symptoms take varying amounts of time to incubate and show up in different people.

Why You Need Testing Even If You Have Symptoms

Some STDs have similar symptoms. For example:

• Chlamydia and gonorrhea can both cause painful urination and unusual genital discharge.
• Herpes and syphilis can both cause sores or ulcers in the genital region.

This overlap makes it harder to diagnose an STD based on symptoms alone. The only way to know for sure is to see a doctor or get tested for the most common STDs—or both.

For more information on how long symptoms take to appear or when an STD becomes detectable through testing, read this article.

In many cases, symptoms never appear. More on this later... This means you may think everything is fine and continue life as usual—while an untreated STD quietly damages your body. In some cases, the damage becomes irreversible, even if you eventually get tested and treated. Imagine never finding out until it’s too late.gh sensitivity and specificity. This makes them a valuable tool for ensuring accurate diagnoses and promoting effective treatment.

Risk Factors: Are You at Higher Risk?

Even if you don’t show symptoms, certain behaviors increase your risk of STDs by up to 10 times the normal risk. Do you or your partner(s) engage in any of these behaviors?

• A new sexual partner in the past 60 days.
• Multiple sex partners or a partner who has multiple concurrent sex partners.
• Sex with a partner recently treated for an STD.
• No or inconsistent condom use outside a mutually monogamous relationship.
• Exchanging sex for money or drugs.
• Sexual contact (oral, anal, penile, or vaginal) with sex workers.
• Meeting anonymous partners online.

More on this later… keep reading…

Can You Get an STD Without Having Sex?

Let’s circle back to an important question we touched on earlier.

Can you be exposed to STDs without actually having oral or genital sex?

The answer is YES. While most transmissions occur through intimate contact, STDs can also spread in non-sexual ways, such as:

• Kissing or sharing drinks or utensils with someone who has oral herpes.
• Skin-to-skin contact with a herpes-infected person—especially during a flare-up, even if they have no visible symptoms.
• Sharing sex toys without proper cleaning.
• Sharing towels or clothes (less common but can transmit infections like trichomoniasis).
• Using a shared shaving razor, which can transfer HIV, Hepatitis A, B, or C through blood exposure.
• Blood transfusions or organ transplants from an infected person (e.g., HIV transmission).
• Needle sharing, especially when using drugs, which can transmit HIV and hepatitis.
• Manual stimulation or mutual masturbation, which may involve skin contact that spreads STDs.
• Using contaminated tanning salon beds that have not been properly disinfected.
• Eating contaminated food (with fecal exposure), which can lead to Hepatitis A.
• Mother-to-child transmission during childbirth for infections like gonorrhea, HPV, and syphilis.

Can You Have More Than One STD?

If you have symptoms for one STD, does that mean you only have that STD?

No. The absence of symptoms for other STDs does not rule out their presence.

Remember, STDs are primarily transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, or genital secretions. If an encounter put you at risk for one STD, it’s possible you were exposed to multiple STDs from the same partner during the same encounter.

Summary

Many people feel anxious about STDs after unprotected sex—whether with a one-night stand or someone they know but don’t fully understand their sexual history.

STDs can also be transmitted without unprotected sex.

You may or may not show symptoms, and symptoms often overlap between different STDs. The only way to know for sure?

???? Get tested.
???? Get peace of mind.
???? Get treatment as soon as possible.