Submitted by AnanomusMan t3_zx1rl1 in explainlikeimfive
Why can't STDs be cured by isolating the people that have the infection?
I know this sounds like a stupid question, but it is a serious one. Basically, if two people don't have herpes or any STD for that matter, shouldn't they have 0 chance of transmitting it? If this is the case, why is there no way of limiting the spread of STDs by limiting the interaction between infected, and non-infected people?
All STDs could theoretically be extinct within a generation or two if people would stop having sex with multiple partners. If each person only ever had sex with one partner their whole life, then there would be no spread of disease, any viral diseases would be confined to family lines. Of course, getting every person on the planet, or even in a small town, to agree to that would be impossible.
I want to stop the spread of disease not drain the enjoyment out of life, Jesus fucking christ. You could do it in one generation if we stopped fucking altogether.
Lots of people out there already doing their part.
I believe that would also result in the extinction of the human race.... Seems like a lot of ppl are already on board for that. Also, some people catch these viruses from family - ie not all STDs are spread via sex alone.
You sat if like that’s a possibility
Because at any given time millions of people have stds. How do you isolate them?
Hotel quarantine until their genitals have been successfully removed, obviously
This is more of a legal question than a medical one. This would be like arresting someone for catching the flu, except in this case, some of these STIs are life-long.
This would also discourage getting tested, thus increasing infectivity for those we can treat.
In theory and without regard to ethics, yes.
But there are a few major problems.
Some STDs are more difficult to test for, accurately, than others. Herpes is a good example. It’s not an easy one to detect and our testing for it is not very accurate. So it’s difficult to tell who we’d need to actually isolate.
More of a question of what you mean by isolating? Some STDs can be passed on without direct sexual contact. For example, kissing can spread herpes if someone has an outbreak and doesn’t know it. And because of the inaccuracy of testing, it’s possible for people to have and spread it without knowing. So how far does isolating go? Anyone who’s ever had a sore or blister near their mouth? And are they completely separated from wider society?
Stigma is a real thing, and you’d be reinforcing stigmas for very little benefit. Almost all STDs are curable (those that are bacterial infections). Those that aren’t (viral infections) are extremely manageable in today’s medicine. Someone who contracts HIV/AIDS can live a long and full life with good, regular treatment as one example. So there’s no dire/medical reason to separate them from society and reinforce stigma against them and cause psychological harm to them when we can treat every STD pretty well.
You saw how poorly that went for COVID, right? Now imagine trying to do that with EVEN MORE people and it's even harder to figure out who has the diseases you're trying to isolate.
Theoretically, yes, you can do it. In practice? Impossible.
Yes, that is called eugenics, and it is generally frowned upon.
Also, how do you propose we would do that? I feel like from the past few years we should all know that this is not only not a trivial matter, but also basically impossible. We couldn't even get people to take a disease that was killing thousand s of people every day in front of them and majorly disrupted their lives seriously. How do you think people would treat a disease that doesn't affect them in basically any way? What's more, we couldn't even get people to take very simple measures to pyevent it, how do you think everyone would react to what you're proposing?
Because people don’t get tested and because theirs little to no consequences for knowingly spreading STD’s.
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Not all people would agree to this....or any solution for that matter.
There are many std's, each with differing levels of permenance or treatment durations.
It is possible to carry a disease and not be aware of it.
Some promiscuous people simply may not care.
People have varying levels of personal hygiene.
Many variables may make people lie about their health.
It is possible, though far less likely, for STDs to spread through nonsexual means of contact.
Something like 70% of people have either HSV-1 or HSV-2, I believe. That alone would be unreasonable to manage, assuming you could even wrangle that many people into this imaginary leper colony.
What you're asking is both an ethical and a logistical question.
Yes, you COULD isolate people to eradicate these STDs. But is it ethically/morally correct to do so?
Could you even positively identify 100% of the infected and get them isolated? I don't know that you could. And if you did not, then you are just postponing the eventual outbreak of these diseases further. Possibly worse if people start throwing caution to the wind because they feel safe, and now those infected populations start exploding.
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See how well rounding up groups of undesirable people goes.
Hint it never goes well and is a terrible idea
They can. That would absolutely work.
The question you should be asking, however, is “why won’t people with STDs isolate themselves from the rest of the population?”.
Many don’t want to. They’d rather enjoy their lives as much as possible and don’t care how it affects others. Furthermore, there are few consequences for spreading these diseases, and even fewer ways to prosecute them for it.
Edit: some don’t even know they have one!
Lots of people with STDs are asymptomatic
Aye. This too. Many have no idea they’ve been infected.
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hasdigs t1_j1y89fl wrote
They could. When you get the clap, you go to the doctor and take an antibiotic. That's it, so if everyone in the world could stop fucking for one day and take a pill, no more Chlamydia!
The problem being good fucking luck with that. People tend to be very irresponsible and even more so when the prospect of having sex is on the cards. Hell it's hard enough to get people to wear condoms and go for regular std checks. Some people think it's totally acceptable behaviour to spread disease as revenge for a cheating ex or whatever.
Then you need to ask yourself who is isolating these people and how? Is this some kind of authoritarian regime? Who's gonna pay for the 7 billion antibiotics? Ect. Maybe it could be done in a small population, but it would only take a handful to fuck it up for everyone and make it all a waste of time and if covid has taught us anything it's that people are selfish pricks.