Choose the content to read
- Does coitus interruptus, oral sex, cause STDs?
- What are the symptoms of STDs?
- When should I get STD testing?
- STD testing procedure
- What does the STD testing result mean?
- STD Testing at MedPark Hospital
STD Testing
STD testing is a medical test to confirm whether you have been infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD), to detect early-stage STDs, to provide timely treatment, and to prevent the disease from spreading to others. STD testing detects viruses, bacteria, or parasites transmitted through sexual activities with an infected person via vaginal, oral, or anal, resulting in sexually transmitted diseases including herpes, HPV, gonorrhea, genital warts, or syphilis, which cause itching, painful urination, clear fluid blisters, or pus-like discharge from the genitals. STDs are fatal if left untreated; seeking a doctor at the hospital for an STD test if you have unsafe sex or suspicious symptoms will help you receive timely treatment and a chance of curing the disease.
Does coitus interruptus, oral sex, cause STDs?
Even one-time coitus interruptus (withdrawal) is risky enough for contracting HIV or other STDs because, during penetration, the internal organs come into contact with the sexual partner's bodily secretions. Anyone at risk of HIV exposure should seek medical attention at a hospital as soon as possible (within 72 hours) to receive post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), an anti-HIV drug.
Similarly, most people mistakenly believe that oral sex is safe and does not cause STDs. In fact, oral sex can result in a variety of STDs, including herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, or genital warts. Those who enjoy oral sex or are satisfied with having their partner perform oral sex should have an STD test every 3-6 months or at least once a year to reduce the risk of untreated STDs.
What are the symptoms of STDs?
- No symptoms
- Itching, pain, burning in the genitals or anus
- Painful urination
- Pus-like discharge
- Vaginal discharge (unpleasant odor)
- Unusual bleeding
- Anal inflammation
- Throat infection
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Pelvic pain (in women)
- Genital or anus sores
- Bumps, lumps, or polyps in the genitals or anus
- Urethritis or anus inflammation
- Rash on the trunk, palms, and soles
- Hair loss
- Fever
Who should have STD testing?
- Having unprotected sex, either vaginal or anal, including coitus interruptus (withdrawal).
- Condoms break or condoms slip off during sex, exposing sexual partner secretions.
- Having multiple sexual partners, enjoying free sex, one-night stands, or swinging sexual behaviors.
- Having oral sex with a casual or one-night stand partner (risk of herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea, genital warts).
- Having unprotected sex with someone with a sexually transmitted disease or a sex worker.
- Having sex with someone other than your partner, having more than one partner in the past 3 months, or having a new partner within the last 3 months
- Sexually active females who have consistent sex and have multiple partners (risk of gonorrhea, chlamydia, HPV, and cervical cancer)
- Sexually active males who have consistent sex and have multiple partners (risk of gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, HPV, HIV, and genital herpes)
What is included in STD testing?
- Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG)
- Chlamydia trachomatis (CT)
- Mycoplasma hominis (MH)
- Mycoplasma genitalium (MG)
- Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU)
- Ureaplasma parvum (UP)
- Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1)
- Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2)
- Treponema pallidum (TP)
- Haemophilus ducreyi (HD)
- Trichomonas vaginalis (TV)
- Candida albicans (CA)
- Gardnerella vaginalis (GV)
- Group B streptococcus (GBS)
- HPV (Human Papillomavirus)
When should I get STD testing?
Those who have recently been exposed to STDs (except for HIV, which requires immediate hospitalization to receive antiviral drugs) can use the window period, or the time between the first infection and when the infection was first detected by the test, as a criterion before being tested. In addition, those who start experiencing initial symptoms may use the incubation period, or the time from the first infection to when the symptom first appears, to decide to have STD testing, as follows:
- Gonorrhea, window period: 2-6 days, incubation period: 1-14 days.
- Chlamydia, window period: 2-6 days, incubation period: 7-21 days
- Herpes simplex, window period 3-6 weeks, incubation period 2-12 days
- First stage syphilis, window period: 3-12 weeks, incubation period: 3-14 weeks
- Genital warts (no window period); incubation period unspecified (could be several weeks, months, or a year).
- Trichomoniasis (no window period): incubation period: 5-28 days
- Hepatitis B and C: window period 3-6 weeks, incubation period 2 weeks to 6 months.
Preparation before STD testing
- Note the date, time, history of STD exposure, and suspected symptoms for the doctor.
- For women, temporarily refrain from vaginal douching, or applying vaginal creams, or lubricants.
- Refrain from urinating for 1 hour before the test (for urine test).
STD testing procedure
The doctor will determine the type of STD testing based on the suspected STDs, as follows:
Blood test
Test for HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and herpes.
The doctor will clean the elbow joint before puncturing the needle to draw a blood sample. The blood will be drawn into a blood collection tube and sent to the hospital's clinical laboratory.
Urine test
Test for chlamydia, trichomoniasis, and gonorrhea.
The doctor will ask you to collect a specific amount of clean-catch urine into a container and send it to the hospital's clinical laboratory.
Swab test
Test for HPV, genital warts, gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes, syphilis, and trichomoniasis.
The doctor will use a special swab to collect a sample of vaginal secretions in women, or a sample of secretions from the penis or urethra in men and send it to the hospital's clinical laboratory.
Lumbar puncture
Test for syphilis stage 3 (latency) or herpes that has spread to the brain or spinal cord.
The doctor will administer local anesthesia to numb the sensation, clean the punctured site, and insert the needle to collect a sample of cerebrospinal fluid for analysis at the hospital's clinical laboratory.
What does the STD testing result mean?
The STD testing results can be reported in 3 types:
Negative
A negative test result indicates no sexually transmitted disease infection.
Positive
A positive test result indicates a sexually transmitted infection. The doctor may advise on additional specialized tests, provide information about treatment guidelines and instructions during treatment, and follow up with sexual partners to ensure they come in for STD testing.
Inconclusive
The test results are unclear and inconclusive due to insufficient sample collection, early infection, or the infected person's nearing recovery. The doctor will request additional sample collection to repeat STD testing.
How long does it take for the STD testing result?
STD testing results vary depending on the type of test; some tests can provide results within a week, such as for herpes (2-3 days), gonorrhea (1-3 days), and syphilis (2-5 days). In contrast, others can provide results on the same day, such as chlamydia (within 24 hours) or rapid HIV tests that provide results within 20 minutes.
STDs, if left untreated
Most STDs, including herpes, chlamydia, or genital warts, are asymptomatic. That is why most infected people ignore the test until the disease has progressed and caused complications such as chronic hepatitis in both men and women, cervical cancer, fetal malformations, or infertility in women, and prostatitis, orchitis, or rectal cancer in men. Furthermore, untreated STDs increase the risk of HIV infection. Therefore, STD testing is very crucial.
STD Testing at MedPark Hospital
Infectious Disease Clinic, MedPark Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, is ready to provide prompt diagnosis of infectious diseases, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), or HIV in an emergency for 24 hours with a team of specialists who are experts in common infectious diseases, severe infectious diseases, and sexually transmitted diseases, in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of health professional specialist providers, the use of ISO 15189 and ISO 15190 certified clinical laboratories, as well as state-of-the-art MALDI-TOF technology, aid in analyzing and identifying cultured microorganisms and reporting test results accurately, rapidly, and precisely in just within 20 minutes, leading to effective and precise treatment with antimicrobial, preventing the spread of the disease, and enabling patients to recover from sexually transmitted diseases quickly.
