We've all heard the adage that "When you sleep with someone, you sleep with everyone they've ever slept with."  with regard to the risk of catching an infectious disease from your sex partner, we can only practice -- and encourage our partner to practice -- safer sex.  Fluids involved in sex (saliva, blood, vaginal secretions, and semen) can harbor the pathogens that cause sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), which include HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, chancroid, genital herpes, human papilloma virus, Hepatitis B, and trichomoniasis.  Some tips for safer sex:

• The safest sex is with a disease-free partner in a mutually monogamous relationship.

• Choose your partner carefully,  Avoid high-risk groups such as intravenous drug users, men who have sex with other men, and people of either gender with a history of incarceration or who are sexually involved with inmates. 

• Know your partner's sex history.  You are at-risk if your partner has had sex with anyone else in the past 3 to 5 years.

• Check your sex partner for warning signs of STDs.  Look for open sores or vaginal warts in women, genital warts in men, and anal warts in both sexes.  Feel whether lymph nodes (neck and armpit nodes are easiest to find) seem swollen.  The lower right side of the abdominal area, where the bulk of the liver is located, as well as the area just below the bottom of the rib cage where the spleen is found, should not be tender to the touch.

• Say no to casual sex or to a male partner who refuses to wear a condom. 

• Immediately before and after sexual activity, urinate and wash the genital area with plain unscented soap and water to help remove bacteria from the urinary tract.

• Wash towels and bedsheets promptly. 

• Never reuse towels on your face or hands that were used to wash up after sex.

"Of the delights of this world, man cares most for sexual intercourse. He will go to any length for it-risk fortune, character, reputation, life itself." ~ Mark Twain