My partner of over a year broke it off with me last week. I was really upset, so a couple of my friends decided to cheer me up and got me to go out to this club. I’ve always been careful sexually, but I think all of my emotions took over and I ended up hooking up with this incredibly hot guy. Now I’m freaking out a little. More than a little. Can you get STD’s, especially HIV, from just one hook-up? Realistically I know/think you can, but I’m hoping you can clarify. I really need some peace of mind to make it through finals!

Unfortunately, I can’t give you one answer since I don’t know what you consider “hooking-up” to be. Some people consider just kissing to be “hooking-up” with someone, while others may define it as oral sex, vaginal sex and/or anal sex.

I’ll start with the first scenario… if you randomly “hook up” with someone and all that it involves is kissing and touching, then the chance of contracting an STD is minimal. Open-mouth kissing is considered a very low-risk activity for the transmission of HIV. However, open-mouth kissing could damage the mouth or lips and allow HIV to pass from an infected person to a partner and then enter the body through cuts or sores in the mouth. Because of this, CDC recommends against open-mouth kissing with an infected partner. (CDC, 1998). Of course, if you are randomly hooking up, you probably won’t know your partner’s HIV status or any of their other sexual history.

If, however, “hooking up” refers to oral sex or penetrative sex and no protection was used (i.e., condom, dental dam), then you are at risk for STDs, including HIV, even from just one encounter.

If you want to be assured that you didn’t contract anything from your hook-up, the best thing to do is to get tested for STDs and to either stay abstinent until you get your results or only have protected sexual encounters. As for HIV, you can get tested right now, but since HIV antibodies need time to develop in your body, a test today will really only give you a picture of your exposure as of approximately six months ago. To get an accurate test, you should think about getting tested in about 3 months and then again 6 months from now. I realize that doesn’t exactly give you peace of mind, but at least you can take control of the situation and take steps towards resolution. If you have more questions about STDs or HIV, you can stop by my office, call or email me and get some more information. But if you need to talk with someone about how to deal with all of your emotions, going to Student Health and Counseling and talking with a counselor is a better bet. You can make an appointment there by calling Cathy at 935-6695.

Dealing with a stressful event, like a break-up, can cloud emotions and lead to circumstances that you might not ordinarily find yourself in. If you know that you are emotionally vulnerable, be careful about putting yourself in a situation where you won’t be able to make good decisions. For example, don’t get wasted to drown your sorrows. You could easily end up doing something you will regret later. Or someone.

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