Following the Genitourinary Clinic’s report detailing the rise in casual sex and certain sexually transmitted infections, a 26-year-old woman tells Kim Dalli that STIs are not always contracted due to promiscuity.

I lost my virginity to my current partner when I was 21, an age that is considered rather ‘late’ nowadays.

The reason for my so-called delay was that casual sex never appealed to me. Being intimate and sleeping with random people I barely knew never held any charm. I tend to view sex as an expression of love between two people. Some call this notion ‘romantic’. I prefer to call it meaningful (and hygienic!).

I dated when I was a teenager but the relationships never lasted beyond a year and I did not sleep with any of them.

I met my current partner when I was 20 and things instantly felt different. We both came clean about our sexual history. In contrast to me, my boyfriend had a promiscuous past. He slept with people whose name he could barely remember.

However, he had visited the GU clinic a number of times and was given the all-clear, including on his most recent visit, a few months before he met me.

There were no overt symptoms of any STIs. A few months after we first slept together, I started to itch around my genitalia. At first I dismissed it but as the itching progressively worsened, I went for a check-up at my GP. It turned out I had genital warts, a symptom of the highly contagious STI called HPV (human papillomavirus).

I admit I was a bit stunned at having contracted the infection following my very first sexual experience. In my case, although I was never promiscuous, I was affected by my partner’s previous actions.

I decided not to take medication and the genital warts subsided by themselves after a year or so.

I would advise people to think twice before deciding to sleep around – their promiscuous lifestyle could have negative repercussions on both themselves and on others.

What is HPV?

There are more than 100 types of human papillomavirus, including 30 or so that can cause genital infections.

Low-risk HPV can cause genital warts while high-risk types can cause cervical or other genital cancers.

Many sexually-active women and men will contract HPV at some point in their lifetime. Most will never even know.

Usually, this virus does not cause any symptoms or disease. Often, the body can clear HPV infection on its own within two years.

HPV types associated with genital infections are transmitted sexually, primarily through skin-to-skin contact. HPV can also be spread through oral sex.

The chance of getting human papillomavirus rises with certain risk factors:

• Number of sexual partners (risk increases with more partners).

• Youth – women aged 20 to 24 are most likely to be infected but they usually clear the HPV infection with no problems.

• Women who are sexually active with men who have other partners at the same time.

Vaccination

The government has been administering the HPV vaccine for free to 12-year-old girls since 2012. Parents are sent personal invitations for the appointment together with information leaflets.

Appointments are held in health centres in the afternoons and on Saturday mornings.

A Health Ministry spokesman said the government had a very good response rate.

So far, 80 per cent of parents invited had brought their daughters for the vaccine, the same response rate as the UK.