Do you know that you now have more STD testing options if you want to compare with 10-20 years ago? STD testing you need may be different and only specific to your risk factor or what you are requesting for. If you want to find out what is the STD testing options available, this is the article for you.
According to Mayo Clinic Staff, STD testing is depends on what your risk factors. A person who is sexually active or having more than 1 sexual partner is the one who listen to this advice a lot which is “Do safe sex and get a regular STD test”. Protective sex and regular STD test is the ultimate preventive measures from STD infection because most of the people is not aware that they’re infected unless the symptom is seen.
There are a lot of STD test options and a lot of types STD out there. It depends on your sexual behaviors, your age and other risk factors to decide what type of test that you should have. Here are the tips so you know how often you should take a test and what type of test do you need.
Option: HIV, syphilis and hepatitis
HIV testing is encouraged by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a routine part of medical care between the ages of 15 and 65. Even the young teenager should be screened because they have a high risk of getting an STI. The CDC is recommending the public to get their annually HIV check-up and test especially if you are at high risk of infection.
Unfortunately, when you are suspected of HIV, you are in risk to have syphilis and hepatitis at the same time. So it is wise to get HIV, syphilis and hepatitis at the same time to ensure you have no infection at all. This is why you should have the tests:
- If your test is positive in one of them, you are in a greater risk to get other type of STI.
- If you have more than one sexual partner
- You use intravenous (IV) drugs and share it with other people
- You should have the test before you get married and planning for having a baby
- If you are having sex with the same gender
- You have been forced to have intercourse
- You are a sex worker
Option: Chlamydia and gonorrhea
In this type of STD, you should get your annual medical checkup and test if:
- You are a teenager and you are sexually active
- You are an adult people and you are sexually active
- You are having sex with the same gender
- You are in risk because you have a lot of sexual partner or having multiple sex partners at one time
- You are positive in HIV
- Your sexual partner is positive with Chlamydia and gonorrhea
- You are having sex with unhealthy sex worker
Option: Genital herpes
Genital herpes is a viral infection and sometimes people don’t notice it or realized that they are infected unless they see the symptom. You should get a blood test to help detect the infection. Unfortunately, the good and precise test for genital herpes is still unfounded. The test’s result may false-positive or false negative once you took it. But a proper test will be a good way to provide you with early medication once detected.
You should get Genital herpes test when:
- You see blisters or early ulcers around your intimate area
- You feel like you have genital sores
- You have a lot of sexual partner and you are sexually active
- You don’t practice safety sex of wearing condom
- Your sexual partner is positive with genital Herpes
- You are having sec with unhealthy sex worker
Option: HPV test and Pap test
Cervical cancer and genital warts are caused by the human papillomavirus or HPV. A Pap text is a test to check the abnormal cells in woman’s cervix and until now, there is no Pap test for men available.
You should get your Pap test every 3 years when you are:
- A woman between 21 and 65 years old
- Sexually active
- Having sex with a lot of sex partners and unhealthy sex workers
- Never practice safe sex or wearing condom
When your Pap test is positive, you should get your HPV test at the same time. But if your Pap test is negative, you can get tested every 5 years. You should get vaccinated to protect yourself from HPV, both men and women as a part of your STD prevention.
Options: STI testing with test kits
There are some test kits for HIV, Chlamydia, and gonorrhea available at the pharmacy so you can get yourself tested at home. It is easy and the instruction is available to let you know how to take you own urine sample, oral sample or genital swab so you can send the sample by yourself to the laboratory. The lab will take your sample and analyze it for you. You will get the result within days or weeks.
If your result comes out positive, the next step that you should do is to seek your doctor for further treatment or further testing. At the same time, you should not have any unprotected sex and you should inform your sexual partner about your test result.
Do not feel ashamed to get any test because you are doing the right thing. You are responsible to your own health and protect others from getting STD infection. You should talk to your doctor about your concern and having a healthy life by the regular test that you take.