The truth is, many providers are not trained to deal with sensitive issues such as sexuality and STDs. It is sometimes a problem, but providers try to stress the importance of communicating with partners, and to use condoms to decrease risk of transmission. People who generally care for one another are genuinely concerned about one another s health, so it is only natural they would want a partner to know about an STD diagnosis. Then, a joint decision on how to take care of your health can be made. It is important to not only protect yourself, but your partner as well.
People feel a lot of different things.
They may feel that they are in an unequal relationship and they can t notify the other person. They may feel that it is very difficult to tell a person that you may have brought an STD into that relationship, because it might decrease trust and cause the partner to feel betrayed. It is critical that we work to decrease the stigma associated with STDs and instead treat them as a health problem, not a moral or ethical issue. STDs are real health problems that affect real people and should be addressed as such. The most important thing is to keep the line of communication regarding STD testing open and to talk about STDs with your partner before becoming sexually active.