How To Get Tested
Chlamydia testing is usually ordered by a doctor. In people without symptoms, a doctor can evaluate their risk and suggest an appropriate screening schedule. If a patient has symptoms of this infection, a doctor will order testing to diagnose or rule out chlamydia.
Testing for chlamydia can be conducted at a hospital, doctors office, health clinic, or community health program.
Hsv1 & Hsv2 Incubation Periods
The herpes simplex virus can cause sores to appear around the mouth, genitals, and other areas of the body. These sores are both irritating and highly infectious, and direct contact with them is one of the main methods for transmitting herpes. Because the virus can spread through kissing, skin-to-skin contact, and oral, anal, and vaginal sex, it is very common. Herpes comes in two forms: HSV-1 and HSV-2, which are sometimes known respectively as oral herpes and genital herpes, despite that neither type of herpes exclusively affects a single region. Many unknowingly carry herpes infections without issue, but there is treatment available to manage extreme cases for those who need it. It is best to wait 4-6 weeks after the potential first exposure to be tested. 9)
Stds With Few Or No Symptoms
It’s important to keep in mind, though, that symptoms aren’t always a good measure of determining whether you or your partner has an STD. Many sexually transmitted diseases can remain asymptomatic for years. In other words, there are no noticeable signs of infection.
Furthermore, it is possible for someone to have no STD symptoms at all and still be contagiousthis includes STDs from gonorrhea and chlamydia to herpes and HIV. That’s why there’s no substitute for regular screening.
A lack of symptoms is no guarantee that you don’t have an STD. You may be infected and able to transmit the disease to any partners.
You May Like: What Gets Rid Of Chlamydia
What Do The Results Mean
A positive result means you have been infected with chlamydia. The infection requires treatment with antibiotics. Your health care provider will give you instructions on how to take your medicine. Be sure to take all the required doses. In addition, let your sexual partner know you tested positive for chlamydia, so he or she can be tested and treated promptly.
Learn more about laboratory tests, reference ranges, and understanding results.
Which Tests Are Used For Early Human Immunodeficiency Virus Detection And How Accurate Are They
Neither of the existing HIV tests is informative directly after the exposure.
The period during which a person may have been infected with HIV, and the test will be able to detect the virus itself or its antigens and antibodies is called the Window period. Its duration varies from one individual to another and is different for each particular test.2
Table 1.
| after 23 days | after 3 months |
Recommended Reading: How Long Does It Take To Get Symptoms Of Chlamydia
How Can I Reduce My Risk Of Getting Chlamydia
The only way to avoid STDs is to not have vaginal, anal, or oral sex.
If you are sexually active, you can do the following things to lower your chances of getting chlamydia:
- Be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and has negative STD test results
- Use latex condoms the right way every time you have sex.
Waiting Times And Test Result Accuracy
Answering how long it would take for someone to definitively test positive or negative on an STD test after a risky sexual encounter requires knowing a number of things, including:
- What STDs the person had been exposed to
- What tests were being used to detect the infection
There are also other, more nebulous factors that could play a role. Unfortunately, this makes it impossible to give someone a definitive answer on how long they should wait to go get a test.
It’s a difficult question even from a research standpoint. How do you ethically and practically expose someone to an STD and then repeatedly test them to determine how long it takes for them to test positive? Because of this, there is little to no solid data about how long after an exposure people should wait to get tested for many STDs.
Common practice suggests that people could go in for basic testing for bacterial STDs as soon as two to three weeks after an exposure. However, they would need to be retested again at least three to six months out in order to feel relatively certain of their results.
At a month out, some tests for chlamydia and gonorrhea would be reasonably accurate. Still, tests for other diseases such as herpes and HIV take longer to become conclusive.
If you had a particularly high-risk encounter, six months is a pretty conclusive follow-up period for most STDs. That doesn’t mean you don’t want to get tested sooner. It just says when you might want to go back to a standard screening schedule.
Also Check: Is Trich The Same As Chlamydia
What Is An Std Incubation Period
An incubation period is the span of time from when you first come in contact with an STD to when antibodies form to fight the STD1). Tests look for the presence of these antibodies during testing2), and if you do not wait until the incubation period has ended, you may not allow your body sufficient time to develop enough antibodies for it to show up in testing, causing a false-negative result.
Even after you have waited for the incubation period to end, you may not see signs or symptoms of the STD. Many STDs do not display symptoms at all or are so subtle that you could think you have a cold or a rash. Your symptoms come and go, but this doesnt mean the STD has gone away. This is why its so important to get tested there is simply no other way to be 100% sure of an STD diagnosis.
If I Dont Get Symptoms How Will I Know If I Have The Infection
You wont know unless you have a Chlamydia test. If you or your partner think you might have symptoms of an infection, you should both have a test. Even if you dont have symptoms you may wish to be tested particularly if:· You have had unprotected sex with a new partner recently· You or your partner has had unprotected sex with other parners· During a vaginal examination your doctor or nurse says that the cells of the cervix are inflamed or there is a discharge· A sexual partner tell you they have an STI· You are found to have another STI
Don’t Miss: How Do I Know If I Still Have Chlamydia
Typical Antibiotics Prescribed To Those Infected
You can treat chlamydia and completely remove it from the system. The best treatment options are prescribed by your doctor, and they include proper antibiotics with high potency. Depending on the potency required and how allergic you are to the ingredients, your doctor can prescribe:
- Doxycycline
- Levofloxacin
What Types Of Tests Are Out There
There are plenty of tests that make staying informed accessible, but theres no single test for every STD. Most tests require a urine or blood sample, or a swab of the area where the infection might be present. If you have a sore and we want to pinpoint the cause, a swab can additionally identify whether a specific virus or bacteria is present. There are also rapid HIV tests you can buy for home use results are available in about 20 minutes.
Don’t Miss: How Long For Symptoms Of Chlamydia To Show Up
Is There Anything Else I Need To Know About A Chlamydia Test
Chlamydia testing enables diagnosis and treatment of the infection before it can cause serious health problems. If you are at risk for chlamydia due to your age and/or lifestyle, talk to your health care provider about getting tested.
You can also take steps to prevent getting infected with chlamydia The best way to prevent chlamydia or any sexually transmitted disease is to not have vaginal, anal or oral sex. If you are sexually active, you can reduce your risk of infection by:
- Being in a long-term relationship with one partner who has tested negative for STDs
- Using condoms correctly every time you have sex
Golden Standard Algorithm For Early Hiv Testing
You should undergo Rapid HIV testing after unprotected sex and potential HIV exposure preferably with most accurate screening tests such as viral load assessment tests in combination with HIV antigen/antibody combined tests followed by HIV confirmatory differentiation tests if needed.3
- If HIV antigen/antibody combined tests and HIV viral load tests turned out to be negative there is no evidence of being infected with HIV . If the risk of HIV contamination is high, the primary negative immune assessment and the virologic test should be retaken 1-2 weeks after the initial testing for more conclusive results3
- HIV antigen/antibody combined testâs negative and HIV viral load testâs positive results are indicating early HIV infections
You May Like: Can You Give Someone Chlamydia After Being Treated
How Is Chlamydia Treated
Your healthcare practitioner will prescribe antibiotics to treat chlamydia. Antibiotics can cure your infection, but damage from the infection may sometimes be permanent. If symptoms do not resolve after a few days, consult your healthcare provider. You should refrain from having sex until you have completed your treatment and should be re-tested three months after treatment.
How Long Does A Chlamydia Test Take
Once the samples have been collected, they are sent to a lab for testing. The time it takes to process the sample can vary. If youâre getting tested via your healthcare providerâs office, you can generally expect to get results within 7 to 10 days after the sample collection.
On the other hand, if you are using the Everlywell at-home chlamydia test, youâll receive secure, online results just a few days after the lab receives your sample.
Most experts suggest that it can take up to 14 days following initial exposure with an infected sex partner for the infection to show any symptoms. For this reason, if your sex partner has recently tested positive but you receive negative results from your test, you may be advised to repeat the test if it has been less than two weeks since you last had sexual intercourse. This is because the infection may still be in its early stages when it is more difficult to identify.
Read Also: How Many Mg Of Azithromycin To Treat Chlamydia
Whats The Difference Between Stds And Stis
STDs are sometimes referred to as sexually transmitted infections . Many providers use this term since theres less stigma attached to the word infection. Its possible to have an infection without symptoms, and the infection may cause disease in the future. In the absence of symptoms, the only way to diagnose an STI is to screen for it.
What Is Being Tested
Chlamydia is one of the most common bacterial sexually transmitted diseases in the United States and can cause serious complications if not treated. Chlamydia testing identifies the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis as the cause of your infection.
The preferred method for chlamydia testing is the nucleic acid amplification test that detects the genetic material of Chlamydia trachomatis. It is generally more sensitive and specific than other chlamydia tests and can be performed on a vaginal swab on women or urine from both men and women, which eliminates the need for a pelvic exam in women.
Screening for, diagnosing, and treating chlamydia is very important in preventing long-term complications and spread of the infection to others. Chlamydia infections are especially common among people 15 to 24 years of age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 2.86 million Americans are infected with chlamydia each year and notes that women are frequently re-infected if their partners don’t get treatment. The actual number of cases may be higher since many people do not experience any symptoms and do not get tested and diagnosed. Still, over one million new cases are reported each year.
Chlamydia is generally spread through sexual contact with an infected partner. Risk factors include having multiple sex partners, infection with another STD at the same time or previous STD infection, and not using a condom correctly and consistently.
Don’t Miss: How To Test For Oral Chlamydia
What Happens If I Get Chlamydia When Im Pregnant
Chlamydia may be linked to early miscarriage or premature birth of the baby. It can be passed to the baby during the birth and before the baby is born. This can cause inflammation and discharge of the babys eye and pneumonia. Chlamydia can be treated with antibiotics when you are pregnant and when you are breastfeeding they wont harm the baby, but do tell the doctor or nurse that you are pregnant.
Std Testing Doesn’t Replace Discussion
People often wonder whether they have to tell current/future partners that they might have been exposed to an STD. Whether the question is modified by “What if we only had oral sex?” or “What if it didn’t last long?” the answer is usually the same. These are discussions that everybody should be having before they have sex.
Most people don’t come to sexual relationships completely inexperienced. Therefore, talks about testing and safe sex aren’t just appropriate but smart.
Still, sometimes the discussion can be difficult. That’s why it’s always a good idea to practice safe sex, particularly until you’re reasonably certain of your test results.
Condoms may not be perfect, but latex types still offer protection against STDs.
Read Also: Is It Possible To Not Pass Chlamydia
What Happens If Chlamydia Isnt Treated
Without proper treatment the infection can spread to other parts of the body causing damage and serious long-term complications.In women Chlamydia can spread to other reproductive organs causing pelvic inflammatory disease . This can lead to long-term pelvic pain, blocked fallopian tubes, infertility and ectopic pregnancy . Chlamydia can spread to the liver causing pain and inflammation, though this is rare.In men it can lead to a painful infection in the testicles and possibly reduce fertility. It is thought that in some men it might cause the prostate to become inflamed. Inflammation of the joints can occur which is sometimes accompanied by inflammation of the urethra and the eye when it is known as Reiters syndrome. This is rare and occurs more in men than women.
How Soon After Unprotected Sex Should I Get Tested
With more than 80 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases occurring every year in the United States, one cannot but be too careful when sexually active. The American Sexual Health Association explains that one in two sexually active American will contract an STD by the time they reach the age of 25 years. While cases are on the rise, exponentially, surveys show that only 12% of young sexually active American were tested last year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adds that undiagnosed sexually transmitted infections are causing infertility in 24,000 women yearly. Undiagnosed STDs that remain untreated lead to numerous health complications, with some being life threatening. It is essential to get STD testing as part of a routine checkup. There are also at home STD testing kits to make testing even more available and convenient.
When engaging in a risky sexual behavior, one may have the tendency to get tested immediately. But this is a common mistake that many sexually active individuals make. Why, you may ask? It is all because of what is called the incubation period that differs from an infection to another.
Don’t Miss: When Does Chlamydia Show Up
When To Get Tested For Stds / Stis
In general, everyone under 25 should be tested annually. And everyone over the age of 25 who is at increased risk should also be tested annually.
For individual STIs, there are guidelines for testing each one based on the time of its incubation period. That means it takes a certain amount of time for each infection to show up on a test. You can see a list as follows.
There are also general recommendations for STD testing for those that are sexually active regardless of exposure risk. These come from sources like the CDC, which provides screening recommendations for healthcare providers.
What Should I Be Tested For And When
People often say, Just test for everything. While that might seem to make sense initially, its important to talk to your health care provider about your specific risk factors and lifestyle. There are a few downsides to testing for everything that are important to consider. First of all, tests are expensive, and in a few cases, such as blood testing for herpes, a positive test can be a false positive. False positives may result in unnecessary anxiety when there may be virtually no risk of transmission and no required treatment.
Here are some instances that would prompt a screening test:
- Youre sexually active. Everyone who is sexually active should be screened at some point. We recommend an HIV test for everyone who is sexually active. We also suggest women obtain a test for gonorrhea and chlamydia, because, unlike men, they frequently harbor these infections without developing symptoms. Keep in mind that if youre practicing safe sex and are in a monogamous relationship, you can get tested less frequently.
- Youre having unprotected sex. If youve had or want to start having sex vaginal, anal, or oral with a new partner, without a condom, its a good idea to get tested. Heres how long after exposure we can get a reliable test result:
- 2 weeks: gonorrhea and chlamydia
- 1 week to 3 months: syphilis
- 6 weeks to 3 months: HIV, hepatitis C and B
Still have questions? Make an appointment to talk to your PCP today in our judgment-free office.
You May Like: Does Garlic Get Rid Of Chlamydia