In the world of computers everyone is concerned with getting a virus that pretty much messes up their computer life until someone comes to the rescue with a debugging or some such fix. In the worst case you go out and buy a new computer. Who would think there is an analogous issue associated with Internet dating, but alas, there are not only viruses, there are bacteria and other such critters that can make your life miserable or even kill you.

How much do you need to know about STD’s is up to you. I can tell you, that on my blog I devoted many posts about each disease and many people got board. To this end, I shall keep the subject generalized and refer you to the vast search world of Google and others if you contract a specific disease requiring a more in depth understanding.

The first point to understand is that when you are dating, there is always the chance you may contract a disease easier today than years ago when we lived in a less promiscuous world. There are lots of people carrying diseases that we can’t see and sometimes they don’t even know they have them. Many of the diseases have no cure and while they can be controlled, the outbreaks, when they do happen, are often painful and disfiguring. Think of the simple cold sore (herpes virus – HSV1)) on and around the lips. This can also spread to the mouth and throat as well as the genitals (HSV2).

It would be nice if the Internet dating profiles included really important things like ones STD status, but they don’t. Even worse, many people have diseases and they don’t tell you about because, well, you’d never go out with them if they did.

The big disease concerns when dating include the viruses: herpes simplex virus (HSV1 and HSV2) that cause oral and genital herpes; human papilloma virus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer, oral cancer and genital warts; hepatitis viruses (HVB and others); even the common cold virus is a concern when dating. While the cold is not generally life threatening, it is not fun either.

Bacterial infections include the biblical and more common diseases like syphilis, gonorrhea, Chlamydia and others. Generally speaking, the bacterial infections can be treated, but if left untreated for too long, they can wreck havoc with your health and future fertility that may be of concern for you younger folks.

There are a few ways to protect yourself from STDs.

First and foremost, try not to sleep around. If you can get into a nice monogamous relationship with an honest person who is disease free, you have less chance of getting sick.

Next, before you get too far in a relationship, don’t be afraid to ask if this person has any STDs or contagious illnesses. This is not an easy conversation but it should be done. Never assume that just because this person looks healthy and comes from a nice background that they don’t harbor disease. This difficult conversation is much easier than living with or dying from the disease.

Do recognize that people may be lying or they may actually not know that they have a disease that is contagious. In some unusual cases, a woman forgot she had herpes and a guy didn’t know he had AIDS – quite common in early stages of disease. You never know!

The next thing to do is to be observant. This doesn’t entail making a pre-sex inspection of genitalia on a sunny day at the beach, but that sure would help. If you really think about it, would you kiss someone with a bunch of herpes sores on their lips? We know the answers to that question.

Rather than getting lost in ecstasy, try looking at genitalia to see if there are any lesions that’s the fancy word for sores. It is really not that hard to do though you must pretend that you are in the throes of ecstasy or your love-making will be judged as lacking.

Finally, practice safe sex. It is amazing how many very smart people (with advanced degrees in all sorts of things including medicine) don’t practice safe sex. Many people are either intimidated or lost in the moment and they make the assumption that this new partner is disease free. Here we have adults behaving in a manner expected by our children who don’t know better.

If a new mate wants to engage in unprotected sex, lay down the law: “I’d be happy to once we have both had a screening for STDs and are in a monogamous relationship.” That should shut them right up or at least find them begging for oral sex which we all know from a past President is not really sex. However, do heed this warning: you can get STDs and even cancer from oral sex if this person is infected with HPV, just like you can get cervical cancer by having unprotected sex.