The Lamen
The blue waffle disease is an internet hoax – a medical condition that surfaced on the internet without any scientific evidence supporting its existence. Misinformation about the sexually transmitted infection (STI) spread around 2010, with the photo of a scabbed, infected, heavily infected vagina surfacing on the internet.
While you may have heard whispers of the disease going around in your school, the “blue waffle disease” was created as an internet prank accompanied by images of a vulva turned blue with other symptoms similar to other STIs.
Despite being debunked as nothing more than a fake disease, blue waffle receives an estimated 1.5 million searches monthly (via Ubersuggest, January 2023).
Continue reading to learn more about the blue waffle disease, including evidence that such an infection does not exist. We also point out how STIs are acquired, their common symptoms, and how these infections can be treated or managed.
Rumors of the blue waffle disease have been circulating on the internet for several years.
The rumors began when someone posted digitally altered pictures of a vagina – showing an inflamed and infected vulva (outer part of the vagina) and labia (skin folds around the opening of the vagina).
The disease is called blue waffle because the term “waffle” is slang for vagina, and the rumored primary symptom of the disease is that the vagina turns blue.
The hoax claims that the fake sexually transmitted infection turns the labia blue, claiming that it could only infect vaginas. Some people have also claimed that the STI can cause bruising and lesions.
While the images might have looked realistic, medical science does not recognize any such disease, specifically because of the “turning blue” part.
The disease has been debunked by various reputable doctors and publications. In a speech by Dr. Anita Ravi posted in Annals of Internal Medicine, the doctor shares her experience of the first time she heard of the disease, stating:
“Oh my god, I have never heard of blue waffle disease. I just finished [my] residency. How did I miss this? I’m a quarter million dollar in debt.” The doctor then goes on to debunk the rumors of this disease stating that it is created by someone with “extensive beautiful photoshopping skills”.
Many people still believe the disease to be real because claims suggest it caused symptoms similar to other sexually transmitted infections, like bacterial vaginosis and HPV.
The blue waffle hoax primarily gained traction through the use of graphic images of infected vaginas, along with the use of sensational headlines and misinformation.
It gained more widespread attention when New Jersey councilwoman Kathy MacBride questioned the city’s Health Department about the “blue waffle disease” epidemic.
“The call came in to ask me, what was the City of Trenton doing about an epidemic that’s called ‘blue waffle disease,’ and I did not have a clue of what that was. So I asked the young man to just brief me of what the blue waffle was, and it is a disease that has already claimed 85 lives, and it is a case here in the City of Trenton. And the blue waffle disease is supposed to be a virus that is 10 times greater at this point than the AIDS virus, and so are we to get some information from the Health Department on exactly how many reported cases we have in Trenton.”
– New Jersey Councilwoman Kathy MacBride, via CBS
A 2018 study conducted by three MIT scholars found how false news spread more rapidly on Twitter. Sinan Aral, a co-author of the paper stated “We found that falsehood diffuses significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth, in all categories of information, and in many cases by an order of magnitude.”
The authors found that false information spread more quickly due to bots that are programmed to recommend inaccurate stories.
They found that false news stories are 70 percent more likely to be retweeted compared to true stories. Elon Musk even stated that 90 percent of comments on his tweets were bots during the entire Twitter acquisition fiasco.
Coupled with our compulsion to be attracted to sensational news without looking into its credibility, the story spread across the globe with women fearing a disease that could cause their vaginas to turn blue.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 30 different bacteria, viruses, and parasites are known to cause sexually transmitted infections.
Even though there are an estimated 20+ million cases of STIs every year in the United States, many people don’t completely understand these infections.
According to a 2020 study, just 36 percent of the U.S. adult population is aware that STIs have become more common over the past decade. Moreover, just 13 percent know that half of the U.S. population is expected to get an STI sometime during their lifetime.
Another study assessed the knowledge and awareness of college students about STIs other than human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
The researchers found that of 350 students, less than 50 percent knew about the symptoms of STIs and their complications.
To better identify and manage any STIs, you first need to identify yourself with them. Here are the symptoms and complications of some of the most common sexually transmitted infections.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a type of virus that damages the immune system – known as a retrovirus. The virus attacks your body’s white blood cells, also known as the CD4 cells. This virus replicates over time and significantly compromises the body’s immune system.
HIV needs to be detected and treated early, as there is no effective cure for it. Without treatment, a person with HIV can develop a serious condition called the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS.
People with AIDS have their immune systems severely compromised. They are more susceptible to opportunistic infections and have a life expectancy of just three years. Estimates suggest that nearly 38 million people around the world have HIV or AIDS.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a group of over 200 related viruses. While most of them don’t cause any disease, over 40 types can be transmitted through sexual contact such as vaginal, anal, or oral sex.
HPV also spreads through skin-to-skin contact, and can cause problems like genital warts, and even cancer in more serious cases.
HPV typically manifests as genital warts, which are soft tissue growths that appear on your genitals. If you have had oral sex with someone who has HPV, the warts may also appear on your throat. These warts can cause itching, burning, or bleeding.
HPV is the most common STI according to the CDC. However, 9 out of 10 cases of HPV go away on their own within two years without any serious health problems.
In more serious cases, HPV can develop into cancer of the vagina, penis, vulva, anus, or throat. The cancer can take up to decades to develop.
Chlamydia is caused by a bacteria known as chlamydia trachomatis, which spreads through sexual contact, sharing contaminated sex toys, or getting the infected semen or vaginal fluid into your eye.
Chlamydia may even spread if your genitals come in contact with each other, without any penetration occurring.
Chlamydia typically does not cause any symptoms. However, it can lead to complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility in women if left untreated. In men, the infection can lead to epididymitis (inflammation of the testicles) in rare cases.
The common symptoms of chlamydia include:
Chlamydia is typically treated with antibiotics such as azithromycin or doxycycline, although your healthcare provider may also prescribe other antibiotics. The condition typically clears up within 1-2 weeks.
There are two types of herpes simplex virus (HSV) that can cause genital herpes:
While HSV-1 spreads through contact with the virus in the saliva or on the skin, HSV-2 spreads through sexual contact.
Many people with genital herpes may not show any symptoms. If symptoms do occur, they are typically mild and the outbreak usually lasts less than a week.
According to the CDC, the average time it takes for symptoms to appear is 4 days, although it may take anywhere from 2 to 12 days after exposure for symptoms to manifest. The infection leads to small blisters on or around the genitals, rectum, or mouth.
People may experience more than one outbreak of herpes during their lifetime. The first outbreak is typically of a longer duration and may have additional symptoms like:
The recurrent outbreaks are typically of shorter duration and have less severe symptoms than the first.
The condition may lead to serious complications in some individuals, such as:
Neonatal herpes is one of the most serious complications of genital herpes, which occurs when the mother is infected with the herpes simplex virus during pregnancy. If not treated immediately, the condition can cause long-term damage to the child’s health.
Bacterial vaginosis is the most common vaginal condition in women aged 15 to 44. While researchers don’t clearly know what causes the disease, it typically occurs in sexually active people, especially those with multiple sexual partners.
Researchers believe that it is caused by the imbalance in the population of the harmful and beneficial bacteria that live in the vagina.
Bacterial vaginosis is not actually sexually transmitted from person to person. BV is not an STI but increases the risk of you developing one.
Many people experience no symptoms of bacterial vaginosis. If symptoms do appear, they may include:
About one-third of cases of bacterial vaginosis go away on their own without any treatment. The CDC recommends that women get treatment for BV. Your doctor will prescribe antibiotics like metronidazole or clindamycin for treating the infection.
According to data collected from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) in 2018, 1 in 5 people in the U.S. have an STI, and nearly 26 million STIs were acquired in 2018 alone. Nearly half of all new STI cases occur among people aged between 15 and 24.
If you’re experiencing any symptoms of an STI, or have been involved in sex (including oral sex) with someone who has been diagnosed with an STI, you should visit a doctor as soon as you can.
If the symptoms of an STI do appear, they typically manifest after 1 to 3 weeks, although this depends upon the type of STI.
The common symptoms of an STI can include:
You should remember that a large number of sexually transmitted infection cases are asymptomatic, and can go undetected for years. A study found that an estimated 45 percent of gonorrhea cases and 77 percent of chlamydia cases were never symptomatic.
Sexually transmitted infections can be spread from one person to another through several types of sexual contact.
While they typically spread through vaginal sex, they can also spread via anal sex, oral sex, and open-mouth kissing in some cases. Some STIs can even spread by skin-to-skin contact.
Here’s you different STIs spread:
One of the most common reasons behind the transmission of STIs is the stigma associated with these infections, and how people don’t openly acknowledge their infections.
You don’t need to be tested for the blue waffle disease – solely based on the fact that the disease does not exist. However, regularly getting tested for STIs is extremely important for sexually active individuals, especially those with multiple sexual partners.
STI testing-related stigma is common in adolescents and young adults. Many people even hide their diseases for fear of social stigma.
The CDC recommends that these people get tested for any sexually transmitted infections:
In general, you should consider STI testing if:
Many STIs have no symptoms, and can only be diagnosed after a test. If left untreated, sexually transmitted infections can have serious consequences, such as infertility, mother-to-child transmission, infertility, dementia, and cirrhosis.
Your doctor may recommend a number of tests depending on your sexual history, suspected infection (if any), and if you are in a high-risk category.
Based on these factors, you may need to get one or more of the following tests:
In general, an STI screening test involves being tested for one or multiple common infections like:
A doctor may not test you for all the STIs, often just a couple of the highly suspected ones. You don’t need to do any special preparations for most tests. If you need to give a urine sample, you should avoid peeing for a few hours leading up to the sample deposit. A urine or swab test also requires women to avoid applying vaginal creams for a 24-hour period.
The testing guidelines for specific STIs are as follows:
People who are sexually active and involved with multiple partners are at a higher risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease and should receive screening tests more frequently.
You can receive STI testing at various places including:
Always remember to read the instructions and know about the accuracy when using an at-home testing kit.
Most insurance plans cover some form of STI testing under the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The coverage may depend upon the STI being screened for, age, sex, and other factors.
In case you don’t have insurance or your STI is not covered by it, you can get free or low-cost testing at a number of locations, including:
You can call ahead and ask about testing costs and availability at these locations. In general, these tests can cost between $50-200.
According to the most recent data published by the CDC, nearly one in five people in the U.S. have an STI on any given day.
If you test positive for an STI, you should immediately follow up with a doctor’s consultation for medical care and the recommended treatment plan.
If you get tested positive, you should also follow up by informing your sexual partner(s), as there is a chance that they might be infected as well. It may be emotionally stressful to tell your partners about your STI diagnosis.
Here are some helpful tips to remember when disclosing your STI to your partner(s):
If you wish to remain anonymous about your STI diagnosis, you can instead use a service like TellYourPartner to notify your partner about the risk of an STI. This service works by sending an anonymous text to your partner after authenticating that you are a real person.
This is a message from Tellyourpartner.org.
Through an anonymous notification service, one of your sexual partners wants to let you know that you may have been exposed to (Disease(s) selected will be listed here).
Since you may not have any symptoms, we recommend getting tested. For more information, including how to find a free clinic, please visit https://tellyourpartner.org/info
If you feel you are getting this text as a form of harassment, please text back REPORT. Reply STOP to opt out.
After sharing the news with your partner, it is important to get them tested as well. Fortunately, many STIs can be treated if not cured completely. The following STIs can be cured completely with proper treatment:
STIs like GIV are treated with antiretroviral drugs, which work by stopping the virus from replicating in your body. Other sexually transmitted infections that cannot be cured completely but treated effectively include herpes, HPV, and hepatitis.
The blue waffle disease is an internet hoax created as an online prank. It gained popularity when images of a heavily edited vagina and vulva surfaced on the internet. These images appeared like an infected vagina that had turned blue.
No, blue waffle is not a real STD. No scientific evidence exists that such a disease exists, and researchers have publicly refuted any claims of any such sexually transmitted disease.
As blue waffle disease in not a real condition, it has no symptoms.
Creators of this hoax stated that the disease had symptoms similar to that of a read STI, including:
If you experience any such symptoms, it is possible that you might have a real STI. In this case, you should immediately contact your healthcare provider to get a STI screening test.
The blue waffle disease was created as an online prank, which was coupled by the images of a heavily edited vagina that had turned blue. The name comes from the slang “waffle” for vagina, and the blue refers to it turning blue from the fake infection.
Many people believe the blue waffle disease to be a real infection because of the limited knowledge of real STIs. It is necessary that everyone familiarize themselves with at least the basic knowledge of sexually transmitted infections to better protected themselves and others.