Imagine you’re finally on a date with someone who you really like, you’re flirting, you’re feeling the chemistry, and you know it’s about to go to the “next level.” There’s just one problem…they already know something that could change your body for months or even years. And they say nothing.
A new survey from Testing.com suggests this happens a lot. In a February 2026 poll of 7,895 U.S. adults ages 18 to 65, 45% of respondents who had tested positive for an STI said they had sex at least once without disclosing. Among that group, 59% also said they had unprotected sex without telling their partner. Seventeen percent said a partner later contracted an STI from them. Yikes.
The headline number is the one that makes your stomach drop. One in 10 Americans admitted they knowingly gave a partner an STI.
People Are Knowingly Passing STIs to Their Hookups (And Saying So Out Loud)
Before anyone starts pointing fingers at “people these days,” the survey also shows how easy it is to talk yourself into silence. The top reason was embarrassment or shame at 49%. Another 33% blamed alcohol or the heat of the moment. A matching 33% said they thought the risk of transmission was low. People also worried disclosure would jeopardize the relationship or kill the mood, which is a bleak way to describe risking someone else’s health.
Testing.com’s medical review board member Toni Brayer, M.D., doesn’t sugarcoat what’s at stake. “Hiding an STD from a partner can seriously harm their health,” she said. “Chlamydia, syphilis, HPV warts, and HIV can cause problems such as infertility, chronic pain, or even death.” She also called nondisclosure “a breach of trust” and said disclosure lets partners make choices about “testing, treatment, and protection.”
Brayer also addressed the lie people tell themselves when they rely on symptoms as a warning label. “It’s important to remember that STDs can be transmitted even without symptoms, and anyone who is sexually active can get one, regardless of how many partners they’ve had,” she said.
Public health guidance lines up with the basic ethics here. The CDC urges people with STIs to notify sex partners so they can get evaluated and treated, with an exception when notification raises a risk of intimate partner violence.
Does this make you uncomfortable? Good. If you can have sex, you can have a sentence-long conversation that starts with “I need to tell you something before we do anything.” If you’re on the receiving end, you also get to ask direct questions, and you get to walk away if the answers feel like a gut check. Nobody wins an award for being “chill” about someone else’s health.
The post Americans Are Giving Their Hookups STIs, and Admitting to It appeared first on VICE.
