When people get intimate, they start to share a lot of things: beds, saliva, coffee cups… and sexually transmitted infections.

It is possible to transmit some STIs without the transmitter ever knowing he or she has one, said Dr. Dennis Garcia, senior medical director at WSU Health and Wellness.

Three of the most common STIs on campus are chlamydia, HPV and herpes, Garcia said.  Both chlamydia and HPV can be asymptomatic and transmitted without knowledge of infection.

Chlamydia, the most common STI, can manifest itself in some pelvic discomfort for a day or two, Garcia said.

“On a weekly basis we have both males and females who are positive for chlamydia and don’t know it,” he said.

Chlamydia is most common statewide, with 24,600 statewide and 173 reported in Whitman County in 2012, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

This STI is curable, but the symptoms are vague, said Jordan Profitt, graduate assistant for the Safe is Sexy program.

“That’s what makes it so hard, why it’s passed along so easily,” Profitt said.

HPV, which is the next most common, manifests in the form of genital warts that are usually small and not often painful, he said. The instances of this STI have gone down drastically since the HPV vaccine was introduced, he said.

HPV has a particularly dangerous strain, however, that can lead to cervical cancer in women. This type can be identified with a Pap smear. It is now offered as a routine child immunization for girls, Garcia said. The medical community is hopeful it will soon be offered for boys too.

“Not that boys develop cancer relating to the virus, but they’re obviously ones that contribute to the spread,” Garcia said.

The vaccine, a 3-shot series, can not only prevent the virus but can treat it in some cases, Garcia said.

He said he remembered one male patient whose lesions were not going away. Garcia recommended the man get the vaccine post-infection, and after the patient was vaccinated his lesions disappeared, he said. This is not standard practice at this time.

“It is not advertised for that (a treatment), but it definitely worked in this setting,” Garcia said.

Another method of treatment involves freezing the warts off with liquid nitrogen. This practice on its own does not remove the virus, but it stimulates an immune response that attacks the virus, Garcia said.

Garcia said it is a safety precaution for women to get the HPV vaccine.

“It’s an opportunity to prevent cancer,” he said. “Why would you not take that opportunity?”

In Washington state last year, there were 1,538 cases of cancer related to HPV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Herpes is also common, Garcia said. This STI is not an invisible one – manifesting in painful genital blisters, someone with herpes knows they have it, Garcia said. It is also not fully treatable. Symptoms may go away, but the virus is persistent, Garcia said.

“Once you have herpes you have it forever,” he said.

The herpes virus can be transmitted through contact with fever blisters, whether they be genital blisters or cold sores. Garcia recommended people avoid intimate contact with others when experiencing fever blisters anywhere.

He recalled one patient who got a herpes infection in his ear after his girlfriend, who had a fever blister on her lip, kissed his ear.

“Keep your fever blister to yourself,” Garcia advised.

Frequent screening is an effective method to avoid contracting STIs, Garcia said. He recommends students screen between every sexual partner in order to make sure that they have not contracted an STI they don’t know about.

Screening is offered at WSU Health and Wellness, Pullman Regional Hospital, WISH Medical, and Planned Parenthood.

Protection is another important factor to prevent an STI, Profitt said. Condoms can stop a fluid-transmitted STI.

“A lot of times people see condoms as another contraceptive, but it’s a lot more than that when it comes to STIs,” Profitt said.

It is a responsibility issue to use protection to prevent these infections from spreading, Profitt said.

“If you’re in the hookup culture, you definitely want to make sure you’re using as much protection as you can,” he said.

Garcia stressed that it is important to take responsibility to avoid transmitting these infections, and that means screening, protection, and in symptomatic cases, abstinence.

“If you have a genital lesion you shouldn’t be having sex,” he said. “It’s irresponsible.”