Student Health Service

Montana State University
Bozeman, MT 59717
(406) 994-2311

 
Don't Do "IT"

Avoiding STDs
Safe Traveling
for Dummies 
 
Don't get bit
(Immunizations, and preventing insect bites and infectious diseases) 
 
Don't get hit
(Preventing accidents and injuries) 
 
Don't get lit
(Avoiding drug and alcohol problems when traveling) 
 
Don't eat s...
(Preventing food- and water-borne diseases) 
 
 
Information About Specific Countries
Other Travel Resources
MSU Travel Clinic
Home Page

 

 Exotic places have exotic diseases. Exotic places also have pretty mundane but still serious diseases. As a result, you can catch a sexually transmitted disease (STD) just as easily in Belgrade, Yugoslavia as in Belgrade, Montana.

You also need to know that some STDs are more common and/or more virulent in some countries than they are in the US. For example, 

  • Hepatitis B is more prevalent in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East
  • HIV/AIDS is much more common in Africa
  • Drug-resistant gonorrhea is common in Southeast Asia


Fortunately, if you are sexually active, avoiding STDs is pretty much the same no matter what time zone you are in. You learned it in high school health class:

  • Use latex condoms every time (take your own...you can't be sure of the quality of local condoms)
  • Avoid drugs and alcohol (they raise your stupidity quotient)
  • Better yet, abstain (you really don't need to add to the local gene pool)


Hepatitis B is the most common fatal STD. It is also the only STD for which there is a good vaccine. All sexually active people who are not in a mutually monogamous relationship, not just travelers, should consider getting the hepatitis B vaccine.

For more information about avoiding STDs while traveling, take a look at STDs: Health Information for International Travel.

We can help you prepare for all of these health risks. Call us at the MSU Student Health Service at (406) 994-2311.
 
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