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Dear Counsellor:
I have a few questions to ask about the condom. What if some of the semen touches me after the condom is off? Could I get pregnant that way? Can I catch a disease from sleeping on a wet spot or if the condom spills semen on me when we are taking it off? My boyfriend and I are really concerned.
Concerned Couple
Dear Concerned Couple:
Women cannot get pregnant from having semen spilled on the outside of their bodies. However, if semen should come into contact with any part of the vagina, even the outer lips, it is possible to become pregnant. But we stress that this is a long shot. Neither can you catch a sexually transmitted infection by coming into contact with ejaculation on the outside of the body.
You do not have to worry about pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections from sleeping on a wet spot or having semen spilled on your skin. Sexually transmitted infections are usually spread by getting a virus or bacteria onto receptive mucous membrane. Regular skin is not mucous membrane. Regular skin resists infection, unless there is an opening/break in the skin, for example, cuts or scratches. Dear Counsellor:
My baby's father was diagnosed with syphilis. I'm three months pregnant, will my baby get syphilis?
Pregnant mother
Dear Pregnant Mother:
A father with syphilis can pass syphilis to the mother of his child, who can in turn pass it on to her unborn child, if she is not treated. The best way to avoid passing syphilis to your baby is to find out if you are infected by doing the blood test for syphilis, as soon as possible, so if you are infected you can be treated. However, if you are treated for syphilis before the fifth month of pregnancy, your child almost certainly will be born without syphilis unless, of course, you become reinfected later in the pregnancy. Please ensure, therefore, that your baby's father gets treatment and it is important that both of you get treated at the same time to avoid reinfection.
