STIs: testing and treatment

Testing

It is worthwhile getting checked out regularly for sexually transmitted infections especially when you have a new partner. Remember, you won't necessarily be able to tell if someone has an infection.

Whenever you go to a GUM clinic for testing you can expect to experience one of the tests listed below. A swab is a sample of fluid taken by wiping a cotton bud over the area.

• A urethral swab (taken from the hole at the end of your penis). This will happen automatically if you go for STI testing. This is not a particularly comfortable test, but it's not painful, and the clinic staff perform hundreds of tests like this every week so there's no need to feel embarrassed. You may experience some discomfort the first time you urinate after the test.
• A throat swab. If you've had oral sex then the clinic may want to take a swab from your throat. This is painless.
• A swab from your rectum. This test is conducted if you have had anal sex.
• An optional blood sample may be taken to test for HIV, syphilis or hepatitis. For testing of all other infections only a swab test is needed.

Treatment

Many infections can be easily treated if you discover them early enough. For infections such as gonorrhoea, chlamydia and syphilis you simply need a course of antibiotics. Some may require you to go for more than one lot of treatment, such as with genital warts. Some treatments may take longer depending on how long you leave the infection without treating it. To find out the specific treatments for each infection see the 'Infection section'.

The longer you leave an infection untreated the higher the chance that you will pass it on to someone else.