STI Testing 101

What is an STI?:

An STI is a Sexually Transmitted Infection. STIs and STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) are often used as interchangeable terms, but there is a difference. For something to be a disease (and so an STD) it must be symptomatic. So if, for example, you have a rash as a result of an infection, this would be an STD. If you had no symptoms, it would be an STI. It’s possible to have an infection without symptoms, and the infection may cause disease (i.e. you do experience symptoms) in the future.

Most of the time this distinction is not worth making, but I’m making it here because some of the information I’m giving is specific to testing when you are non symptomatic.

Why is STI testing important?:

Sexual health is an important part of overall health. Many people who do have STIs may be unaware they have been infected. Without knowing they have one, an individual could pass it on to future partners. Public Health England found that diagnosed 440,000 new STI cases in 2014 in England alone.

When Should I Get Tested?:

Obviously, you should get tested if/when you have symptoms. However, screening tests, where an infection is looked for even when do not have any symptoms, are also important.

Some reasons it might be a good time to get tested are:

– You’ve had sex without a barrier, and never had a test. Sex here includes anal sex, oral sex, vaginal sex, or vulva to vulva contact (which has a very high transmission risk, even if it doesn’t have a reputation for it) without a condom or dental dam.

– A barrier method failed recently. This could mean that a condom burst, or a dental dam ripped

– You have a new partner that you would like to have barrier-less sex with. However, remember that if you have been exposed to an STI, it may take a while to show up on a test. HIV, for example, may take up to 3 months to show positive on a test.

Sex blogger Red Hot Suz released an excellent post earlier this year, also sponsored by STDCheck.com, about how to talk to casual partners about STI testing. It’s an excellent post, and you can find it here.

Certain groups are considered ‘high risk’, and as such may need or want to be tested more frequently. These groups may include (but are not limited to):

– Partners of HIV+ people

– People with multiple partners, and people whose partner/s have multiple partners

– Men (both trans and cis) who have sex with men

How and Where Do I Get Tested?:

This part of the post will be very UK focused, as this is where I have most knowledge and experience. I cannot account for the sexual health infrastructure of every country, and encourage you to research what providers and services are available to you.

If you’re in the USA, a service that’s available to you is STDcheck.com. They offer STI screening across the United States discreetly and quickly, sometimes with a turn around of 1-2 days. Their website also provides really thorough and useful information about the symptoms and treatment available for different STIs and STDs.

Clinic Testing:

The NHS has many sexual health clinics (also known as GUM clinics). These clinics can provide free condoms, contraception, advice and information about sexual health, STI screening, and STI/STD treatment. You can find your nearest GUM Clinic by entering your Postcode or Town here.

The nurse or doctor will ask some question about your sex life, in order to decide which STIs are worth screening for. Depending on what your sexual lifestyle is, they may test for STIs using:

-A Blood Test. This can be a ‘prick test’, or involve drawing a vial of blood.

-A Urine Sample

-Swabs. These may be taken from your genitals, throat, or rectum. In some services you might be able to take the swab yourself in private

You might receive your results in different ways. You may have to return to the clinic, or you may be able to receive your results by text. Some clinics offer same day testing and most results are available within a few days, but some test results may take up to two weeks.

If you are LGBT+, and a sexual health clinic specifically aimed at LGBT+ people is available and accessible to you, I would suggest going there. While sensitivity towards the LGBT+ community is increasing, clinic staff may still make assumptions about LGBT+ people’s sex lives. For example, a practitioner may assume that a trans man who has sex with men does not need an anal swab, or that a cis lesbian has no or a negligible STI transmission risk.

This is very specific, but if you’re based in London (UK), and are transgender, I would absolutely recommend ClinicQ. Among their services is free STI screening, and they’re the only clinic I’ve been to that opened with actually asking me how I have sex, instead of assuming I had only PiV sex with cis men.

At Home Testing:

Some UK postcodes are eligible for free at-home test through the SH:24 scheme. If you’re not eligible, the same service also runs as Fettle, although you will need to pay if you order tests through Fettle.

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The (awful) gender and sexuality options from Fettle

Fettle is honestly a bit of a shit service if you’re trans. Firstly, their gender options are ‘Male’, ‘Female’, & ’Trans*’ (see left). Secondly, the service makes a lot of assumptions about how trans people have sex.

For example, trans men who have sex with men are only recommended a genital chlamydia and gonorrhoea test by Fettle. This ignores the fact that trans people may have sex in many different ways (including anal and oral sex), and that, even if all trans MSM did bottom for PiV sex, they’d still be having sex with cis MSM, and are likely to need a HIV screening. While you can customise your order, this is definitely an oversight.

An at home service I’ve used and recommend more is Sexual Health London. While they too have a pretty bullshit gender and sexuality system, they at least recommended an anal and throat swab, and a test for HIV. Sexual Health London is also a free service, but is limited to the London area.

Other services exist for specific screenings or specific geographical areas. For example, The Terrance Higgins Trust offers free kits for HIV and Chlamydia screening, and the NHS Let’s Talk About It scheme offers HIV, Syphilis, Chlamydia, and Gonorrhoea testing (plus Hepatitis B and C if you’re a MSM) to those living in Hampshire, Southampton City or Portsmouth City.

What do I do if I get a Positive Result?:

First of all, sit down, breath, and remember that this has no impact on your value as a person. We as a culture attach a lot of baggage to STIs, in a way we don’t to other kind of infections. This goes down to the very language we used to refer to people who are positive for STIs- we refer to people as ‘clean’, but having an STIs does not make you ‘dirty’ or ‘unclean’. It doesn’t even make you particularly uncommon- 1 in 2 sexually active people contract an STI by the age of 25 1. Contracting an STI is not uncommon, and it does not make you a bad person.

If you got a positive result from a home test, the next step is to find a healthcare provider who can guide you through treatment.

Next, contact present and past partners who you may have contracted the STI from, or who may have contracted it from you.The time period for contact is different for each STI, and your healthcare provider should be able to help you find out what the time period for contact for the STI you have contracted is, and therefore who you should tell. You may choose to tell your partner/s yourself, or in some cases a health care provider may be able to talk to them without using your name. This will allow the person to get tested, and treated if necessary.

And remember, don’t panic! Many STIs can be treated, and your healthcare provider should be able to give you information on this, as well as guide you through the next steps. They may prescribe you antibiotics, for example. If you take antibiotics to treat an STI, you shouldn’t have sex until you and/or your current sexual partner/s have finished treatment, or have been told you no longer have an infection.

HIV is one of the few STIs that are not curable, but it is manageable. You should seek out medical advice quickly, and start treatment as soon as possible. This includes not only antiretroviral therapy (ART), but also support services and counselling. The NHS has information for coping with a positive HIV test, which you can find here.


This post was sponsored by STDCheck.com. Affiliate links were not used in this post.

1. Cates JR, Herndon NL, Schulz S L, Darroch JE. (2004). Our voices, our lives, our futures: Youth and sexually transmitted diseases. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication.