The deadly Ebola virus topped the news for much of the summer of 2015. Ebola is known to be passed from person to person through direct contact with blood or bodily fluid of an infected or deceased person. However, the first case of a person becoming infected with the disease through sex has been documented in Liberia.

A female who died from the disease in March contracted it after having unprotected sexual intercourse with a man who had recovered from the disease. The individual’s blood tested negative for the virus 155 days before the pair engaged in sex.

Through semen samples and genetic testing, doctors were able to determine that the woman and the man were infected with the same strain of the virus. While Armand Sprecher from Doctors Without Borders feels this instance was extremely rare, the fact remains that Ebola can be transmitted through unprotected sex.

STDs can be prevented by the use of a condom as well as by confidential testing like the kind Confilabs.com provides. While Ebola may not need to be put on the list of common STDs, the findings are another reason why condom use is so vital.

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