Hi Carol,

I’m a guy who’s confused. My girlfriend keeps getting yeast infections. There is disagreement among her, her doctor, me, and anybody else I’ve asked about it because some of these people (including her) think I’m giving her the infections. But I’ve never been diagnosed with anything like that, and I didn’t even think guys could get yeast infections. Aren’t they a woman thing? So to speak. I mean vaginal. I do sometimes get a little bit of a rash after intercourse, but it resolves itself and doesn’t stick around. A yeast infection in a woman isn’t a rash, so I don’t think this has anything to do with it. I am not very inclined to just do a treatment for something I might not even have. Can you help me figure this one out? –Brett

Dear Brett,

Yeast, aka candidiasis, is most commonly found in the vagina, where it lives naturally–it is actually an overgrowth of what is already there that causes what we know as a "yeast infection." It can also be found in the mouth–not just those of infants, but also of adults, especially immunosuppressed adults. There it is usually called "thrush," and it can take the form of white stuff on the tongue and walls–pretty obvious when you say "Aaaaahh"–or can act more like painfully infected tastebuds. It can also live on other mucous membranes, which would include the male urethra and under an uncircumcised man’s foreskin. If a woman with a yeast infection has unprotected intercourse with a man and then is treated for it, she might get it again after a subsequent sexual encounter because the yeast has resided on him without causing him any symptoms–this can occur multiple times if he is never diagnosed, and is commonly called "ping-ponging." A yeast infection can also be ping-ponged back to a woman through contact with used towels and such.

The penile rash you refer to may indicate that you have, in fact, gotten a yeast infection–you just haven’t gotten a vaginal one. (It’s also possible that you are sensitive to the lube or condoms you’re using, but it’d be good to get it checked out.) Yeast can also live in perpetually moist folds of skin, such as on the usually unerect penis and on the scrotum. The tighter your whities, the more likely yeast will have a nice environment in which to hang around. Again, a certain amount of yeast lives with us naturally, causing no problem, and it is quite possible that some heterosexual couples might share yeast (along with other elements of their biospheres) and never be troubled; in other cases, yeast that doesn’t bother the guy might in fact be too much for the woman. In fact, the yeast that lived with us happily last year might prove to be too much for us this year, if we are not in such good health or are stressed out. Stress doesn’t cause yeast infections, exactly–but it can certainly exacerbate them.

My guess is that you and your girlfriend are in fact engaging in a game of yeasty ping-pong, and it would be a good idea for you to get treatment. If you don’t want to do it without being tested first, then go get tested, for heaven’s sake.

The fact that you have no symptoms (while your girlfriend does) is not terribly surprising. It’s even common for both partners sharing a sexually transmitted condition to be symptom-free. Many, maybe most STD cases go undiagnosed and untreated because the people who have them don’t know it; Planned Parenthood estimates that eighty percent of all STDs are asymptomatic. Yeast is not usually thought of in the same breath as HIV, herpes, and gonorrhea, but like them it can be sexually transmitted. Speaking of which, there’s one more possible culprit for this probably ping-ponged infection: If your girlfriend uses sex toys and gives them only a cursory wipe-down between uses, her dildos or even externally used vibrators might also harbor enough yeast to give her trouble the next time she plays. Soap and hot water or antibacterial wipes each time, please! It’d be a hell of a thing if she were blaming you for something she was getting from her vibrator.

Dear Readers,

Two things. I had a grand time speaking to a Male Sexuality class at UC Berkeley the other day. A past trip to UC resulted in a question that completely stumped me, and last week the guys did it again. Paraphrased, the question was this: "You know those Web sites where the guys are putting their dick in the mouth of a big fish? Is that really something many people do?"

I wish I had as much time to surf the Web as it’d take to keep up on all this great stuff. My partner Robert quickly coined a term for this heretofore obscure activity: "bassing." You heard it here first. It’s making me think of my late father’s fishing trips in a whole new light, but I must request that any bassers out there consider consent issues: How could this possibly represent a good time for the fish? Not to mention safety questions: Some fish have teeth. Consider this a PSA for all you Web-surfin’ fools.

Also (big sigh)…I’m back to having a wonky e-mail system for a little while. Meantime, if your missives to me bounce, please print them out and pop them in the snail-mail, care of the Express. I’m trying to get to the bottom of this, but I must say–grrrr!–that when Al Gore invented the Internet he left a few loose ends.