- Once you have had gonorrhoea, you cannot get it again.
False. A person can get gonorrhoea as many times as he or she has sex with an infected person.
It is important that anyone who is treated for gonorrhoea or any other STI make sure that his or
her sexual partner is also treated.
- There is no known cure for genital herpes.
True. While there are drugs available to treat the symptoms of genital herpes, there is no cure
for the disease.
- Condoms have been laced or coated with HIV that causes AIDS.
False. Condoms are scientifically tested by the companies that manufacture them. There is strict
quality control. Many more people who use condoms would have already become sick or died if
condoms had HIV inside them.
- You will not get HIV if your girlfriend or boyfriend is clean.
False. A person’s risk of HIV cannot be determined by looking at a person and checking her or
his reputation. Some people get HIV when they have only had sex once or with one partner.
- It is women who are spreading HIV and STIs.
False. Both women and men may have HIV and may pass it to their sexual partner. Our society
often blames women for spreading sexually transmitted infections, but a woman must first
become infected from her partner before she can pass it to someone else.
- Having sex with a virgin cleans a man of HIV and cures him.
False. There is no cure for HIV. Having sex with a virgin only risks giving HIV to that person and
will not cure the man.
- If you have unprotected sex with a person who has HIV you will definitely catch it.
False. Not everyone who has unprotected sex with someone with HIV will become infected. Some
people can stay in a relationship with a person who has HIV for a long time and not become
infected, others catch it the first time they have sex with someone who is infected. Becoming