[pcthrowaway]

> Even people who are being honest might not count e.g. oral herpes as an STI if they contracted it in a non-sexual way.

That's pretty much my point, self-reporting with vague questions leads to bad data. HSV-1 can be transmitted orally to genitally however, and genital HSV-1 is now more common in many places than genital HSV-1 [1] (likely from oral-to-genital transmission since HSV-1 is less active genitally, and barriers are far less commonly used orally than with PiV intercourse)

From [1]: "In studies conducted in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, cultures performed on samples taken from lesions of genital herpes indicated that more than 50% of infections were due to HSV-1"

> .. As opposed to what?

As opposed to... not having had sexual intercourse?

[1]: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/infectious-d...