You might think that having few sexual partners puts you at low risk for sexually transmitted infections, but a new web resource shows that people you're exposed to really add up.
Online doctor service Dr. Ed's Sexual Exposure Calculator tells you what percentage of your city you could have caught an STI from. This calculation is based on how many partners you've had, and how many partners they've had—and the results ain't pretty.
For example, if you live in Houston, Texas, and you've slept with three people who have each slept with 10 people on average, you've been exposed to possible STIs from 15 percent of the city. If you live in Santa Ana, California, that's it would be over 99.5 percent. Yikes!
Given that about one in six U.S. adults has herpes and nearly every sexually active person will have HPV "at some point," according to WebMD, it seems nobody is exempt (except perhaps the completely celibate—but even then, you can get herpes from kissing).
But wait, how do they even know this? The Dr. Ed team told NTRSCTN that the number is calculated using a six-degrees-of-separation rule.
"Six was chosen because it represented a significant portion of the person's potential exposure while not falsely inflating that number. Anything more than six would have caused unnecessary inflation," they said.
For the math nerds out there, the team used the formula for finite geometric series, and included it on the calculator's page.
The takeaway? The same thing you heard in high school health class:
Just kidding.
"We want to encourage everyone to take an active role in their own sexual health," Dr. Ed's team said. "This calculator is a way to show people that even if you have only had a few direct sexual partners, the number of people you've been exposed to can quickly add up to thousands of people—increasing your risk of contracting an STI dramatically."
In other words, use protection, kids.
