Why don't animals get std's?

They do. In some cases, they are prevented through good husbandry, vaccines, or culling. But there are plenty of viruses and bacteria that create a significant impact on animal populations, such as the Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumor Disease

AIDS was a disease in infra-human primates for many, many years before it crossed the species barrier sometime during the 1950s. I think your information is just wrong.

It is maladaptive for a pathogen to kill every infected host. If it did that, how would it continue to live itself?

~ They practice safer sex than most humans.

They don’t tend to go out and get wasted at bars. ;)

Feline leukemia virus is as harmful as HIV. But it’s a lot more contagious, so it’s not an STD.

Isn’t it koala’s that are having a huge syphilis outbreak?

because they have the same functions organs just like humans do. thats why it’s so important that you should make sure that your pets are getting all their shots. cats get feline aids and luke.

My kitty died a virgin:(

@gemiwing – It isn’t syphilis. The koalas are having a rise in chlamydia infections.

Also, while we don’t typically think of it as an STD, brucellosis, aka undulant fever, is indeed a sexually transmitted disease common among domestic livestock and in other mammals including dogs, goats, deer, and rats. Farmers and vets watch for it carefully because it impacts the birth of offspring, and it can be transmitted to people through infected milk.

BTW, scientists think that syphilis and gonorhea both originated in cattle and possibly sheep, and HIV originated in chimpanzees.

Source

@Darwin According to your source, syphilis may well have come to humans because people had intercourse with sheep (they aren’t quite so blunt in their wording, but that’s the gist). There’s something to think about.

@pdworkin There is new data to suggest that HIV may have evolved much earlier, around 1900 (reviewed here).

In any event, as others have mentioned, there are many animal STDs, and probably lots we don’t even know about.

They are natural in some animals (i.e. syphilis – sheep, etc) but do not affect the host. It is only when inter-species breeding occurs that it gets introduced to another species that is not immune to it..

@Snarp – Since I don’t have sex with sheep, why should I care how it came to afflict humankind? I was simply pointing out the currently hypothesized origin.

I live close to a safari park and earlier in the year the monkey viewing area was closed because all the monkeys had herpes! True story.