What Are The Advantages Of At
The rise in availability of at-home STD tests coincides with the growing telehealth movement in the United States and around the world. Increasingly, patients want the convenience of receiving medical advice on the go or at home and prefer to avoid visiting a doctors office.
At-home STD tests offer several advantages over in-office testing:
- Patients do not have to feel embarrassed when discussing their reasons for getting an STD test and do not have to discuss their sexual history, which means the process is more private and discreet.
- Patients are able to choose between being tested for just one type of infection, getting a full workup, or any combination of options in between.
- At-home testing is more convenient and eliminates the trip to the doctors office.
- Costs may be lower for online testing services in some cases, particularly when using a website that accepts health insurance, as the co-pay for a doctors visit is eliminated. Follow up with your health care provider to see if your insurance covers these tests.
- If you prefer not to use health insurance, you have lots of self-pay options and dont have to worry about your results being reported to your health care provider.
- Telehealth appointments may be available sooner than waiting for an appointment to open up at your doctors office.
- You may be able to receive treatment for your infection through the online provider if you test positive.
Faq About Chlamydia Testing
It isnt uncommon for a person to not know they are infected with Chlamydia. The reason behind this is that Chlamydia can be asymptomatic, in other words, it may not present symptoms. Chlamydia is a bacterial infection that is easily spread from one individual to another. Serious health consequences can occur if left untreated.
It doesnt take long to test for Chlamydia. Testing requires a simple urine test. If you are worried you are experiencing symptoms of Chlamydia or may have come in contact with it, we recommended you get tested as soon as possible. Testing for Chlamydia can also be done to identify the status of your overall sexual health.
Where Can I Get Tested For Chlamydia
You can get tested for chlamydia and other STDs at your doctors office, a community health clinic, the health department, or your local Planned Parenthood health center. In some states, you can do an online visit and take a chlamydia test at home.
STD testing isnt always part of your regular checkup or gynecologist exam you have to ask for it. Be open and honest with your nurse or doctor so they can help you figure out which tests you may need. Dont be embarrassed: Your doctor is there to help, not to judge.
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How To Use The Chlamydia And Gonorrhoea Test
The test is simple to use. If you are a man, youll need to provide a urine sample. If you are a woman, youll need to do a vaginal swab. If you are not sure what is best for you, please ask one of our doctors.
The test kit comes with everything you will need to take the test as well as instructions on how to test yourself safely and accurately.
When you have collected your sample, place it in the prepaid envelope provided in the test pack and send it to our partner laboratory. You will receive your results within 3 days of the lab receiving your sample.
How Soon After Unprotected Sex Can I Test For Chlamydia And Gonorrhoea
You should test for chlamydia and gonorrhoea 14 days after you have had unprotected sex, unless you already have symptoms.
This is because chlamydia and gonorrhoea have an incubation period, meaning they may not show up on a test if you take it too early. To get the most accurate results you need to wait for 2 weeks after exposure to get tested.
There is a small chance that the infection may not show up on a test, and give you a negative result. Therefore, if you receive a negative test, you should repeat the test 6 weeks later to confirm your results.
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Why Do I Need A Chlamydia Test
Chlamydia is a very common STD, especially in sexually active people ages 15 to 24. But chlamydia usually doesn’t cause symptoms, so the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health organizations recommend regular screening tests if your risk of getting chlamydia is high.
If you are a woman or a transgender or gender diverse person with a cervix , you should:
- Get tested for chlamydia at least once a year if you are:
- Younger than 25 and having sex
- Age 25 or older and have a higher risk of getting chlamydia because you:
- Have a new sex partner or more than one partner
- Have a sex partner who is having sex with others
- Have a sex partner with an STD
- Don’t use condoms correctly every time
Regular chlamydia testing at least once a year is also recommended if you:
The best testing schedule for you may be different than the recommendations. Ask your provider how often you should get tested.
Your provider will order a test if your sex partner has been diagnosed with chlamydia or if you have symptoms. Symptoms of chlamydia may include:
- An unusual discharge from your genitals or rectum
- Irritation or itching around your genitals
- Pain or burning when you urinate
- Rectal pain or bleeding if chlamydia infects the rectum
What Does Chlamydia Look Like In The Mouth
Chlamydia in the throat may take on a similar appearance to a throat infection. The throat may simply look red and swollen.
Sometimes chlamydia in the throat will have no appearance at all, especially where no symptoms are present.
If you have been experiencing a sore throat that doesnt seem to be going away, or you have had oral sex with a partner recently who has tested positive for chlamydia, you need to get tested as soon as possible.
Chlamydia in the throat is tested using a swab. You will need to visit a medical professional in person for a diagnosis. A doctor will send a swab sample to a laboratory, which tests the specimen for the presence of DNA from the bacteria that cause chlamydia.
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Does A Positive Test For Chlamydia Mean I Have Gonorrhea
The simple answer is no. But a longer explanation would reveal that many people who have tested positive for Chlamydia often test positive for Gonorrhea as well. Therefore, it is not uncommon for a physician to recommend testing for both STDs.
Rapid STD Testing offers a convenient dual panel test for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea so you dont have to pay for two individual tests.
What Are The Disadvantages Of At
Just as there are many advantages to at-home STD tests, there are also plenty of disadvantages.
Disadvantages associated with at-home STD tests include:
- Not knowing exactly what to get tested for without talking to a healthcare professional.
- Not knowing when you should get tested for certain STDs based on your potential exposure window, which can prevent you from receiving accurate results.
- Not understanding the results you receive and not having access to a medical professional to help you interpret them.
- Not having access to immediate treatment after receiving your results.
- Possibly paying more for the same test since you might be able to receive testing for free at a sexual health clinic.
- Not being able to apply the costs of your STD test to your commercial health insurance.
- Not receiving accurate results if the sample is collected incorrectly.
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Who Should Consider Taking An At
There are many different reasons to consider taking an at-home STD test. Some of the reasons why people may choose to take an at-home STD test include:
- Testing after having unprotected sex
- Testing after having sex in which the condom broke
- Testing before or after sex with a new partner
- Experiencing unusual symptoms
- Testing to confirm that a previous infection has resolved
- Testing because you want to stop using condoms with a current partner
- Testing because you havent had an in-office test in one or more years
- Testing out of curiosity
There is only one situation in which you should not consider taking an at-home STD test, which is after a recent or current partner has received a positive STD test result. In these situations, its important to go to a doctors office for an in-office test in order to make sure that the sample is collected properly and your results are as accurate as possible.
Why Should I Test For Both
Chlamydia and gonorrhea are both caused by bacteria, display similar symptoms, and often occur together. Chlamydia and gonorrhea are also recognized as co-existing infections, which means that the occurrence of one infection may put you at risk of having the other. This is why we suggest that you be tested for both.
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Purpose Of Urine Testing For Stds
It used to be that STD testing, particularly for bacterial STDs, was very uncomfortable.
Men who thought they might have a bacterial STD like chlamydia or gonorrhea got tested by having a swab inserted into their urethra. Women had to undergo a pelvic exam, during which a cervical swab would be taken and tested for bacteria.
The fact that STD testing was uncomfortable and invasive made it less likely that people would undergo regular STD screening.
That probably contributed to what is sometimes known as the hidden epidemic of asymptomatic STDs. Because many STDs have no symptoms, the only way to detect them is through testing. When people arent tested regularly, they can spread STDs to their partners without even knowing it.
Urine testing makes it easier for people to undergo STD testing as part of their regular medical care. Note, however, that STD testing is still not a standard part of most annual exams.
How Is Chlamydiatreated
The most common treatment from Chlamydia involves the use of antibiotics. Azithromycin and Doxycycline are two types of antibiotics prescribed by physicians to fight the bacteria.
Both prescriptions are effective at wiping out the Chlamydia-causing bacteria, however, one is a single dose while the other is taken by the infected individual over 7 days. Before continuing in sexual activity with your partner, make sure they are also tested.
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Fda Clears Rapid Point
The Food and Drug Administration has granted 510 clearance to binx io for womens health, a molecular point-of-care diagnostic testing platform for detecting chlamydia and gonorrhea in approximately 30 minutes.
The binx io platform is a rapid, fully-automated test that requires no calibration or maintenance no additional steps are needed once the single-use, assay-specific cartridge is loaded into the instrument. It is intended for use at point-of-care or clinical laboratory settings using female vaginal swab samples that are collected either by a clinician or self-collected by a patient in a clinical setting.
The 510 clearance was granted based on a recent multicenter trial which included 17 evaluation centers and more than 1500 symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. In the study, the accuracy and reliability of binx io was compared with current central lab standard of care systems for chlamydia and gonorrhea. According to the Company, results showed binx io was comparable to central lab testing with a 96.1% sensitivity and 99.1% specificity for chlamydia and 100% sensitivity and 99.9% specificity for gonorrhea testing in women tested.
Does Heredity Play A Role
It can. High cholesterol can run in families. An inherited disorder, familial hypercholesterolemia, may make it harder for your body to clear LDL cholesterol from your blood.
If heart disease runs in your family, let your doctor know. Its important that your doctor monitor your cholesterol and other heart disease markers as a preventive measure.
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What Types Of Chlamydia And Gonorrhoea Tests Are There
The most common test for chlamydia and gonorrhoea is a simple urine or swab test, which is what Superdrug Online Doctor offers. This is the same type of test that you would get in any sexual health clinic. This test is easy to use at home, or with the help of a clinician, and provides highly accurate results.
While chlamydia is not a bloodborne infection, blood tests can pick up the presence of chlamydia antibodies. But, blood tests cannot be used to diagnose chlamydia as they can only detect whether you have had chlamydia in the past and developed antibodies against it. It cannot confirm if you have a current infection.
Why should I get tested for Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea?
Testing for chlamydia and gonorrhoea, as well as other sexually transmitted infections, is important to keep yourself and your partners safe. Regular testing makes sure that, if you do pick up an infection, you can get treated as soon as possible. Left untreated, these infections can cause serious health problems, like pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.
Getting tested regularly also helps you reduce the spread of these infections. Chlamydia is the most common STI in the UK, and making sure you get tested before having sex with a new partner helps to protect them from a potential infection. Some people choose to do a home chlamydia and gonorrhoea test when they meet a new partner to check they do not have either of these sexually transmitted infections .
When To Test For Std
Many STDs can cause serious health complications, and its possible to have an STD without experiencing any warning signs or symptoms. As a result, testing is the only way to know for sure whether or not you have an STD that may require treatment and potentially be spread to a partner. Generally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends annual testing for sexually active men and women, particularly for those who have multiple partners or new partners.
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Chlamydia Rapid Test In Asymptomatic Patients
At the time of recruitment to the study, 90% of men positive for chlamydia with polymerase chain reaction from site 1 and 31% from site 2 had no genitourinary symptoms. Of these asymptomatic men, 89% and 71% , respectively, had positive results with the Chlamydia Rapid Test, giving an overall test sensitivity for asymptomatic men of 78% . With symptomatic men who were positive for chlamydia, there was a higher combined sensitivity at both sites.
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What Do The Results Mean
If your screening results were negative or normal, it means no syphilis infection was found. Since antibodies can take a couple of weeks to develop in response to a bacterial infection, you may need another screening test if you think you were exposed to the infection. Ask your health care provider about when or if you need to be re-tested.
If your screening tests show a positive result, you will have more testing to rule out or confirm a syphilis diagnosis. If these tests confirm you have syphilis, you will probably be treated with penicillin, a type of antibiotic. Most early-stage syphilis infections are completely cured after antibiotic treatment. Later-stage syphilis is also treated with antibiotics. Antibiotic treatment for later-stage infections can stop the disease from getting worse, but it cant undo damage already done.
If you have questions about your results, or about syphilis, talk to your health care provider.
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This Test Will Tell You Whether Or Not Your Reproductive Or Urinary System Has Been Infected With Chlamydia Or Gonorrhea
Like any Everlywell STI test, our at-home Chlamydia & Gonorrhea Test is delivered in discreet packaging and taken in the privacy of your own home. Once you return your test sample to our lab and your sample is processed, youâll be notified via email when your results are ready. You will then be able to access your results through an easy-to-understand report on our secure online platform.
Reviews From People Just Like You
Scott
I would like to share my sincerest compliments on the professionalism of your employee and colleague, Kelsey. Thank You!
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Vince thank you, your team was so helpful, kind, patient and just wonderful. Special thanks to Jessica.
I just wanted to comment on how helpful and accommodating Jessica has been with my testing.
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I just wanted you to know how nice Kacie is. You are lucky to have her. She was very nice to deal with and made me feel at ease. Thanks very much.
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Very happy with the service, and I appreciated your willingness to explain all the options. It was professional, and discreet. Results were Super-fast!
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Overall had a good experience. It was easy to set up and pay for the test. The wait was not long but I went early. Before they opened. There wasnt a line at the facility.
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Great experience, start to finish. The counselors made everything easy and I got my results quick. I was able to get them by email too, so no awkward conversation with a stranger. Totally recommend Rapid STD Testing.
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