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public restrooms and STDs
Can you get an STD from using public restrooms at sports arenas?
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No. You really can't.
People who says that it is possible, are like saying it's possible you might be thrown into a pool full of orange jello in Malibu by 13 rodeo clowns and drown... Sure, I guess that could happen since rodeo clowns, jello and Malibu all exsist, but it's amazingly and exceeding unlikely that those things will all happen at once to you unless you make it happen.
STDs are called STDs for a reason: That reasons is that they are generally transmitted sexually, through direct contact with the virus, bacteria or infected cells in the blood, semen or vaginal fluids (and less commonly, in salvia or on the skin).
So long as you don't rub your genitals all over a toilette seat that is dripping with fresh blood, you aren't going to catch an STD from a public bathroom.
And if you do that, your problems are WAY bigger than STDs.
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Update: All of the below information is related to ALL STDs. I only wrote out HPV because of a previous answer. If it makes you feel better replace "HPV" with "various STD strain". HPV is NOT like cancer. IT IS NOT CANCER. It does not come out of no where. There are strains of HPV and it is considered to be a STD. It causes genital warts, can cause cancer, lesions, infertility, and a slew of other issues. It very much IS an STD that you can catch from people via sexual contact.
You contract HPV from sexual interaction.
STDs = sexually transmitted diseases
So, HPV is an STD because it's transmitted through sexual actions, usually.
No STD dies instantly outside of the body. None of them. The answer below relates to any STD you'd like to question. None are going to die instantly so it doesn't hurt to take a bit of extra precaution, though, usually not necessary.
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I answered this sort of thing before in regards to HPV, specifically. My answer really still applies to this particular situation about STDs in general. I will go on and copy and paste the information I had found before for another user:
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Well, according to this about.com website, you cannot contract HPV through public toilet seats:
"Fortunately, this is a myth, but still remains a common belief among many people. The human pappillomavirus (HPV) cannot be transmitted through sitting on a toilet seat. Because viruses cannot survive long outside of the body, HPV cannot be transmitted this way."
From: [Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
HPV is transmitted through sexual skin-to-skin contact from an infected partner. No penetration is required to contract HPV. HPV can be transmitted through:
vaginal intercourse
anal intercourse
oral sex
touching your infected partner's genitals and then your own
sharing sex toys with an infected person without disinfecting first
genital-to-genital contact (same or opposite sex)
I do know that HPV can live in your fingernail (and toenail) beds so you have to really scrub those up well. I am not sure why they didn't include "fingering" on their list. Since the website says:
"viruses cannot survive long outside of the body"
The word "long" implies that they can survive out of the body for a short period of time. This does sound like it technically possible to contract HPV from a freshly-used toilet seat. Try to not come in contact with toilet seats and always use a paper protector if you cannot squat properly above. It's better to be safe than sorry, in my opinion.
As a note, if you cannot do either, bring some hand-sanitizer in your purse or pocket. Take some of that and apply it to some toilet paper and quickly "wash" off the seat. Many women do this simply because the thought of the unwashed toilet seat even coming close to them is icky.
So, in short, the answer seems to be no but you should still be on the safe-side in case a few of the HPV cells survive by the time you go into the stall.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask me! :)
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