&lt;h1&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Frequently Asked Questions about STD in Thailand in 2024&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Ask us, PULSE has all the answers you need to know.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Does Thailand have a lot of STDs?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Like any other country in this wild world where everyone is horny, Thailand has as many STDs as America, Australia and Europe.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;The HIV infection rate in the Thai population is 1% which is high. But that makes Thailand the trailblazer of HIV treatment and prevention. Thailand is the first country in Asia to launch a free PrEP program and include PrEP in the national HIV prevention guidelines since 2014. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;In 2019, the estimated number of&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;HIV&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;infections in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;U.S.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;was 34,800 and the&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;rate&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;was 12.6 (per 100,000 people). By age group, the annual number of&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;HIV&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;infections in 2019, compared with 2015, decreased among persons aged 13&amp;ndash;24 and persons aged 45-54 but remained stable among all other age groups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;How many people have HIV&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;United States&lt;/strong&gt;? An estimated 1.2 million&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;people in the United States&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;had HIV&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;at the end of 2018, the most recent year for which this information is available. Of those&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;people&lt;/strong&gt;, about 14%, or 1 in 7, did not know they&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;had HIV&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;In 2017, the&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;prevalence&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;of&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;HIV&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;in the&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;United Kingdom&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;was estimated at 101,600 (credible interval 99,300 to 106,400) with 92% (credible interval 88 to 94%) diagnosed.&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Prevalence&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;is highest in gay/bisexual men in London with an estimated 83 (credible interval 73 to 96) per 1000 gay and bisexual men aged 15 to 74 years.&amp;nbsp;In 2019, it was estimated that 105,200 people were living with HIV in the UK.&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;94%&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;of these people are diagnosed and therefore know that they have HIV. This means that around 1 in 16 people living with HIV in the UK do not know that they have the virus.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;For comparison, the prevalence of &lt;strong&gt;chlamydia in the USA is at 539.3 per 100,000 people&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;gonorrhea in the USA is at 179.1 per 100,000 people.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What STDs are common in Thailand?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Chlamydia&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Gonorrhea&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Hepatitis A, B and C&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;HIV&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Syphilis&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;HSV Herpes Simplex&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Warts (HPV)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Is syphilis common in Thailand?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Fast-forward to 2021, Thailand saw almost&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;12 syphilis patients per 100,000 population.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;A sharp rise is mainly a result of not only unprotected sex but as we know condoms can not prevent syphilis from kissing or touching because syphilis can be transmitted through direct contact (people don&#39;t know that). So you must get tested before you come to Thailand when you arrive in Thailand, and before you leave Thailand to make sure you don&#39;t have any infections and not carrying any infections back to your home country.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;For comparison, the prevalence of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;syphilis in the United States was 35.3 per 100,000 people in 2017&lt;/strong&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.&amp;nbsp;And there were nearly&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;130,000 cases of&amp;nbsp;syphilis&amp;nbsp;in the&amp;nbsp;U.S.&amp;nbsp;in 2019&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;, marking an increase of more than 70% since 2015.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;I was shocked to find that new diagnoses of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;syphilis&amp;nbsp;have increased by 199% in the&amp;nbsp;UK&amp;nbsp;over the last ten years&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;, with a rise from 2,646 new diagnoses in 2010, to 7,982 in 2019 which is a 10% increase from 2018. Males constitute 90% of cases with the rates highest amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) and often have co-infection with HIV.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;In Thailand, although syphilis can be found in people of all ages, now a very large number of the cases are diagnosed among teens and men who have sex with men including bisexual people and transgender people.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Who is at the highest risk of having STDs in Thailand?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Young Thais are at the highest risk for STDs.&amp;nbsp;Thais, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;especially those under 25&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;, are increasingly at risk of sexually transmitted diseases.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, chancroid, and venereal diseases in the lymph nodes (LGV) among young people appear to be on the rise, according to the deputy director of the Department of Disease Control, who said the infection rates have been rising steadily since 2015.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;While the average age group has 33.9 STD patients per 100,000 Thais, the number surges to 124.6 per 100,000 for the age group of 15 to 24.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;How can I avoid STD in Thailand?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Travellers should take precautions to prevent STIs. Always practice safe sex &amp;ndash; use a condom correctly and consistently or abstain from intercourse. If engaging in oral sex, use a male condom or dental dam. Pack male and/or female condoms.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Buy the appropriate condom size, store them properly, and refrain from wearing two condoms at once. And in case this somehow needs to be said, condoms must be disposed of properly after one use.&amp;nbsp;Do not throw them into rivers or canals.&amp;nbsp;In June 2019, a Facebook post of a canal filled with condoms in Bangkok Yai district drew widespread disgust.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are condoms in Thailand safe?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Yes you can get safe condoms in Thailand and they come in lots of different sizes.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Most commonly sold condoms in any convenience stores are size 52mm, if you are larger than that or XXL size, don&#39;t forget to pack your own in your luggage!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;As everyone knows... People from the West have bigger ones than people from the South East Asia!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff0000;&quot;&gt;FUN FACTS:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; Lots and lots of condoms sold in America and Europe are made in Thailand. Trojan condoms are made in Thailand.&amp;nbsp;Today,&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Durex&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;remains the world&#39;s best-selling condom brand, with 30% of the branded market. However, all production now takes place in China, India, and&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Thailand.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are condoms in Thailand free?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Yes, condoms are provided for free at PULSE CLINICS countrywide.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;The free condoms at PULSE CLINICS are available in sizes 52mm, 54mm, and 56mm. Drop by to get some to keep you safe, PULSE CLINICS is open every day.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thailand&#39;s&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;100%&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Condom&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Program started in 1991 to offer&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;condoms free&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;of charge nationwide, particularly to sex workers and brothels, is widely credited with averting a generalized HIV epidemic in the country. Subsequent&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;condom&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;distribution and awareness campaigns have since run and often target young people.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #ff99cc;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Can you buy condoms in Thailand?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #99ccff;&quot;&gt;Almost anywhere in&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Thailand &lt;/strong&gt;you will&amp;nbsp;find a store that is open 24/7. There are 7-Eleven stores everywhere (8,469 stores across&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Thailand&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;at the moment). They are always open and, of course, they stock&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;condoms&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

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