3 Tips For Healthy Sexual Citizens

Hey, guys. It’s Dr. George here. And today, I wanted to talk a little bit about a topic that’s a bit of a passion of mine, and that is good sexual citizenship. What the hell? I know. So, let me explain. We are all members of communities and there’s lots of different communities out there, but we’re all individuals that participate in that community. And I think as part of our involvement in the community, we are citizens and part of that being some of our communities are sexual. It’s important that we are good, healthy sexual citizens.
What does that mean to me? Well, I have three ideas that I want to share with you and I’d love to get your feedback. The first is knowing your status and the way that we get to know our status, and it’s not just about HIV because everybody thinks status HIV, but there’s lots of things to know about. And the way that we find out is by getting a regular sexual health screening.
So, if you’re sexually active, you should be getting a screening every 12 months. If you’ve had more than 10 sexual partners in less than six months, then every six months or if you’re on PrEP or particularly successful, good on you, then every three months. In that way, you can be totally in control of your sexual health.
Now, a sexual health screening for all of my patients involves a throat swab, a bum swab and urine and that’s to check for chlamydia and gonorrhoea. If my patient has a vagina or a cervix, then it’s also a cervical swab. And again, that’s for chlamydia and gonorrhoea. Then, a blood test to check for hepatitis C, hepatitis A and B to check to see whether they’ve been vaccinated but also for HIV and syphilis.
If you’re living with HIV, then talk with your specialist about how often you would like to be getting a CD-4 count and HIV viral load as well. But that’s an important thing about knowing your status. If you’re going to an event, it’s a great idea to get a full sexual health screening, say, two or three weeks before the event. If you do have any surprises, you can get them all sorted out before you turn up at the event.
Other things that are important is know how to protect yourself against potential sexual infections. It used to be condoms was the only way that we had available to us for protecting against HIV and reducing the risks of STIs. But things have changed and there is some amazing new technologies. We know that PrEP is a fantastic technology that can help reduce the risk of HIV infections significantly and it’s a single tablet taken every day or there are other dosing regimes that are on demand, and it’s important that you talk with your doctor if this is something of interest to you.
For people living with HIV, we know that successful treatment leads to a non-detectable viral load, and undetectable viral load is undeniably awesome and nontransmissible. People living with HIV on treatment that led to a non-detectable viral load, there’s no way that you’re going to ever be able to pass on HIV, but also there are massive health advantages for your own health as well. I always want to talk to my patients about stuff like that.
Condoms are still an important role. They do actually help reduce the risks of STI transmission. However, I don’t know many people who use condoms for oral sex or wanking or anything like that. That’s why it’s important to get a regular sexual health screening.
Now, part three, the final part is to consider getting vaccinations. All men who have sex with men should consider the following vaccinations, and I recommend hepatitis A and hepatitis B because both of these can transmitted through sexual means. Get an up-to-date tetanus shot. Get a flu shot every year particularly if you’re coming together with large groups of people. Flu shot is a massive, massive advantage to everybody there.
Now, there has also been meningococcal outbreaks internationally. There’s one here in Melbourne at the moment, but there’s been meningococcal outbreaks after IML (International Mr Leather) a few years back so it is important to consider getting the meningococcal vaccine. I recommend the ACWY strains get covered or as many strains as you can, and these are all important things. Not quite sexual health but HPV vaccine as well. Consider getting the human papilloma vaccine. It reduces the chances of anal cancers in men who have sex with men significantly.
Yeah, that’s my ideas about sexual citizenship, three ideas. So, know your status, understand how to protect yourself. And finally, understand that there are vaccines available and which ones you should avail yourselves to. I hope this was helpful and I would love to get your thoughts and impressions on anything that you would like to add. Have a great day. See you guys.