I apologize in advance if this has already been mentioned in this 19-page thread, but it's worthy of a bump (pun intended). A lot of STDs can be asymptomatic, especially in male carriers. Chlamydia and gonorrhea may present symptoms or may not, in both men and women. Chlamydia in men is so frequently without symptoms that it's earned several nicknames as a stealth or silent STD. When symptoms are presented, they usually take 1-3 weeks to appear. Here's my point: most of us believe we're disease free because we have no symptoms but only a lab test can prove it. And a lab test is only as good as your last unprotected encounter. If a provider is checked monthly, but is infected by a "stealth carrier" between checks, then everyone who has unprotected activity with her after infection but before her positive test alerts her is at risk.
After many years of celibacy ended for me in the early '90s, my new GF contracted chlamydia and we went to the doc together and I had it, too. It was possible she gave it to me, but this girl was far from promiscuous, she was actually a bit of a prude, so the more likely scenario was that I had been carrying it for several years without knowing it. That was an eye-opener, and I was horrified wondering if I had contracted it long enough ago to have given it to other girlfriends without knowing it. It still has the power to upset me thinking I may have done that.
Call me naive, but I'm fairly late to learn (from reading, not experience thankfully) that unprotected oral sex is not necessarily safer than unprotected vaginal sex. It depends on where the disease is manifested in the host. If a woman has a vaginal STD, a BBBJ is very unlikely to transmit the infection. But if her job is in a pink salon, she's much more likely to get the infection in her throat from the semen of an infected customer (the charade with the wet wipe is just for show), which she can then pass on via BBBJ to her subsequent customers. Studies on transmission rates are hard to nail down, but it's not unreasonable (in fact, it's safest) to assume oral sex transmission is as easy as vaginal if that's where the STD is. And oral sex on an infected vagina could result in the infection spreading to the throat of the person doing the muff diving, too.
I wouldn't wish on anybody who enjoys the hobby the kind of paranoia I have about body fluids. I usually opt for HJ or CBJ because of the near-zero risk of any disease transmission. I'm weak, though, and sometimes can't resist the lure of a BBBJCIM, but afterwards I -- as SatoKM related -- have psychosomatic "symptoms" for a week or more afterward until I get proof of being ok. In fact, just writing about STDs makes me itch. There is no way I personally ever risk BBFS -- I am usually terrified of even CFS due to the potential for fluids to contact the exposed skin where the condom isn't, so like I said, I usually just ask for some cuddling and a HJ.
Anyway, I really am not trying to be the voice of doom, just maybe the voice of wisdom. If you have unprotected encounters whether oral, anal, or vaginal, please get formally tested regularly even if you have zero symptoms. Herpes and HIV would be your companions forever, but chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphillis are usually easily cured and not particularly dangerous IF diagnosed early enough, the key is getting them diagnosed and not assuming our lack of symptoms means we are "disease free."
Sorry to sound preachy -- not my intent -- and sorrier still if this is well-worn material. It's a risky hobby/profession and we'll all do well to look out for ourselves and each other, customers and providers alike.
