Got a health question? Don’t trust those “Doctors” at the University Health Center? Are you scared of Web M.D. because it always tells you you’re gonna die? Ask a real doctor, like our friend Dr. Lissa Rankin. She’s here every Thursday to answer whatever you throw at her – like post-sex soreness – so ask away. Leave your question in the comments or send it over to us. Don’t be shy; she’s waiting for ya!

Q: I found out that I have HPV. So, having sex with my boyfriend, does that mean he has HPV too? And if either of us perform oral sex – can the warts then be transferred to our mouths? Will this lead to cancer? On the paper I got back from the doctor it said to come back in 12 months for another pap smear; will it get worse by then? I’m nervous.

A: HPV can be a sneaky bastard. Unlike sexually transmitted infections like gonorrhea and chlamydia, HPV can hang around, unexpressed and asymptomatic, then suddenly rear its ugly head with little warning. Chances are that your partner also has HPV. In fact, chances are good that your boyfriend gave it to you. But it’s possible you could have contracted it from a prior partner and that he doesn’t have it. No way to know for certain, so the best strategy is to behave as if he doesn’t have it, just to protect him.

It’s unclear to me whether you have warts already or whether your HPV just came up on a pap smear. If it’s just a pap smear, chances are good that you carry the type of HPV that causes abnormal paps and cervical cancer, but not genital warts. The good news about this for your partner is that these strains of HPV tend to cause nothing in guys (which is why guys are passing it around like candy. They don’t even know they have it).

If you do have warts, you’ll want to be a bit more careful.  While condoms can help reduce the chance of transmitting warts, they can’t protect you completely. Because the condom only covers the shaft of the penis, it leaves vulnerable scrotal skin in contact with potentially infections coochie skin, so it’s important for him to realize that he may still wind up with warts.

As for oral sex, yes, laryngeal warts (warts in the larynx) have been reported. But they’re very rare. HPV tends to prefer the genitals and the anal area, so oral sex is relatively safe. If you want to be uber careful, you can use a dental dam to protect your boyfriend when he’s going down on you, and if you’re worried, have him wear a condom. (I know, it’s not sexy, but it is safe).

If your doc told you to wait a year to repeat your pap smear, I would wait a year. While abnormalities on paps can get worse, they change very slowly, and as long as you don’t miss a pap, you should be fine. Most of all, though, don’t worry. HPV is more of a nuisance than a life-threatening disease, as long as you listen to what your doctor recommends. I know it can be scary and embarrassing, but I commend you for trying to get the information straight. Take a deep breath. Now, let go of any anger, frustration, or shame you feel around this. And let it go. Stressing about HPV only makes it worse. You’ll be fine, sweetie.

For more about HPV, visit my website Owning Pink

- Dr. Lissa Rankin’s book, What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in Fall 2010. She invites you to join her Pink online community (www.owningpink.com/forum) or read more of her writing at Owning Pink (www.owningpink.com).

[The following post is courtesy of Vanessa Cullins, M.D., Vice President of Medical Affairs at Planned Parenthood. Upon speaking with Vanessa and asking for information on STDs we began discussing HIV/AIDS. Naively, I mentioned that college kids are safe and know to protect themselves against this deadly disease. Turns out, I was wrong, and thinking that way is incredibly dangerous.]

Once in a while, we get a variation of this question via e-mail: “I’m a woman in college, and I’m wondering if I still need to be worried about getting HIV. Isn’t it pretty much under control by now?”

HIV/AIDS is definitely still a threat — especially among young people and women. Today, women account for more than one-quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses, and women of color are especially affected by HIV infection and AIDS. The growing complacency about this deadly disease is alarming.  You cannot tell from looking at someone whether that person is infected with HIV or any other sexually transmitted disease (STD). That is why all sexually active people need to protect themselves against HIV.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that more than 56,000 women and men are infected with HIV every year. And the American College Health Association has found that the rate of HIV infection among college students is about the same as it is for the general public. It seems that a lot of people — especially women — aren’t getting the message.

So what’s a girl to do?

First, get tested regularly. Know your status and the status of your partners. Planned Parenthood Federation of America has partnered with MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation to launch the GYT — Get Yourself Tested — campaign. Visit http://gyt09.org to get information you can rely on about STDs, including HIV, and find your nearest testing location.

Second, plan your safer-sex strategy. Condoms used correctly and consistently are the best protection against HIV and other STDs, including HPV, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. Condoms reduce the risk of HIV infection substantially.  In fact, aside from abstinence and other forms of intimacy that result in no contact with another person’s genitals, condoms are the best protection against HIV.  Some studies show that about one out of two college students used a condom the last time they had sex. That’s good. But it also means that one of two didn’t.  And that’s not good — that’s a whole lot of people playing Russian roulette with contracting HIV/AIDS.

Having a good safer-sex strategy means knowing your risks and deciding which ones you are willing to take.  Here’s a step-by-step walk-through of some of your options:

•    Use a latex or female condom during vaginal, oral, and anal sex.
•    If you are not using a condom, it’s safer to have oral sex than vaginal or anal sex.
•    Rubbing against your partner, whether clothed or naked, is safer than sexual intercourse. Rubbing against your partner clothed is even safer.
•    If you and your partner are engaged in mutual fondling, it is safer to wash your hands before touching your own genitals.
•    Masturbating alone or together — or having phone sex or cybersex — is the safest sex option.

But the most important safer-sex strategy of all is to assume that all potential partners may be infected — and then take precautions.  The reality is that people will lie in order to have sex.  Another reality is that many people with HIV don’t know it!  Given these odds, you can’t rely on anyone else to protect you.

Remember: all sexually active people are at risk, and we need to protect ourselves.

We took the embarrassment (and speculum!) factor out of the equation and asked you, the CollegeCandy readers, to submit the questions you had regarding STDs and sexual health to our new pal, OB/GYN Dr. Lissa Rankin. She shares her experience and knowledge below. There were so many questions that we had to break it into two parts, so come back later to read the rest!

1. How does someone get tested for STDs?
If you wish to be screened for STD’s, screening is simple.  Readily available blood tests exist for HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, and herpes.  Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomonas can all be tested from swabbing the vagina or cervix, as well as from a urine test, and it’s important to get tested, since the presence of these infections may make you more susceptible to contracting HIV.  HPV testing can be performed at the time of a pap smear, although this test is usually only done if your pap smear is abnormal.  Genital warts, pubic lice and molluscum contagiosum are usually diagnosed by a doctor’s visual inspection or, sometimes, a biopsy.  Most STD tests are readily available at any OB/GYN or primary care medical office.

2. How often should I get tested?
I recommend being tested any time you change sexual partners (or any time your partner does). So if you break up with your boyfriend and he hooks up with someone else, then wants to get back together, it’s time to get tested again.  If you’ve been tested once and everything was negative, it’s a good idea to get retested in 6 months, just to make sure.  After that, as long as you’re with the same partner and you know for sure your partner is faithful, you’re probably safe to just get your annual pap smear.

If you’re changing partners, you need to be tested before every new partner.  If you’re changing partners daily- or even weekly, you’re putting yourself at high risk, even with frequent testing. Always use condoms in this situation, but understand that even condoms can’t protect you from all the cooties that are out there.  Be safe!

3. How do you broach the subject with your partner?
You DON’T wait until things are hot and heavy before you bring it up.  I recommend that women initiate the discussion by getting tested themselves.  When you show your partner that you care about the health of both of you by getting tested, it will motivate him to do the same.  So go ahead and draw the line in the sand.  Tell him you don’t feel comfortable being sexual with him until you know you’re safe.  Then use condoms anyway, just to be safe.  But keep in mind that some STDs like herpes and HPV can still be transmitted, even if you use condoms, since the virus can still be shed from genital skin that isn’t covered by the condom.

If you already have an STD and need to tell your partner, bring him with you to the gynecologist. Having a doctor present to alleviate concerns and answer questions is a good way to break the news.  Or write a letter if that’s easier for you, and include website links that can help answer his questions.

4. What are the odds of catching an STD through oral sex with ejaculation? And does the likelihood increase if you spit (it’s already in your mouth) or swallow?

Many young people enjoy oral sex over intercourse specifically because you can’t get pregnant and you’re less likely to get sexually transmitted diseases, but that doesn’t make it risk-free.  As you can imagine, this is a hard thing to study. Few couples engage only in oral sex, so it’s hard to get a clean study.  It’s not like you can take two groups of people and say, “You guys have intercourse and you guys have oral sex and we’ll study the risk of STD transmission!”  No, that doesn’t work.  So all we have is theoretical data, really.

So what do we know? You can get STDs from oral sex with ejaculation, but it’s pretty rare. Several factors increase your risk of contracting a STD from oral sex.  If you have poor oral hygiene, such as oral ulcers, gum disease, or oral thrush, this makes you more susceptible to someone’s body fluids.  If you hold semen in your mouth, this also increases the risk of transmission. It’s better to spit or swallow immediately, since stomach acids inactivate most infections.

If you give a man with herpes oral sex, and he is shedding the virus from his genitals, you can get oral herpes or herpes pharyngitis, leading to ulcers in the mouth and throat. While genital herpes (HSV-2) tends to prefer infecting the genitals, there can be some crossover, so HSV-2 can still cause problems in the mouth, although this is much less common.  Transmission in the absence of genital ulcers in uncommon, although not impossible.  Similarly, oral infection with syphilis can cause syphilitic mouth ulcers, or chancres.

Certain strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause warts in the throat, although this is extremely uncommon.  Some data suggests that HPV infection of the throat may also increase the risk of throat cancer, but again, this is an uncommon outcome.  Having oral sex with a man with gonorrhea can cause a gonococcal throat infection, although this is usually asymptomatic.  Chlamydia has also been isolated from the throats of men and women, although it doesn’t appear to cause symptoms.

Blood-borne STD’s or those carried in body fluids, such as HIV and hepatitis B and C, have a theoretical risk of transmission from oral sex.  Poor oral hygiene or blood in the semen may increase this risk.  Overall, a few reports of transmission from oral sex exist, but this appears to happen very rarely.

All in all, oral sex is much safer than either vaginal intercourse or anal intercourse, and transmission of STD’s is a rare but theoretical risk.  If you decide to take your chances with oral sex, the likelihood is that you’ll be just fine.  But if you wish to protect yourself, your partner can wear a condom. Flavored condoms exist specifically for the enjoyment of safe oral sex.

Though we’ve been led to believe otherwise by movies and dramatic episodes of Dawson’s Creek, let’s face it—sex can be awkward.

Instead of perfect lighting that makes you look hotter than Heidi Klum, you have your date’s lava lamp casting a faint glow on your cellulite. You don’t always fall effortlessly into bed, your bodies completely in sync. Sometimes you have to move your cat, half-eaten can of Pringles, and dog-eared copy of “He’s Just Not That Into You” out of the way first.

Passionate tearing off of clothing? Sure, sometimes.

But then there are those times where he’s fumbling with your bra clasp for so long that you don’t even help him because you’re curious to see how long it’ll take.

And then there’s another awkward, very critical part of sex—one that is more often than not, completely ignored in television and movies. The condom. And according to a new study, apparently the whole “disease and pregnancy-free” concept is so awkward for some, that, hell, they just ignore it all together!

According to the UK’s Daily Mail, Brits are so embarrassed to talk about condoms, that a third of them don’t use one at all—and it looks like STI cases have been rising in the UK. You make the connection.

I’m not trying to preach here, believe me. I don’t exactly whip out a dental dam over a candle-lit dinner and fling it in the middle of the table. And I may or may not hide my box of condoms under the new issue of US Weekly in my shopping cart. But when it comes down to it, if we think of ourselves as mature enough to HAVE sex, shouldn’t we be mature to acknowledge that fact that we’re having sex by at least briefly mentioning the use of a condom in the near future?

Sure, talking about it is a little embarrassing. But so is waking up with herpes.