STI – Am I at risk?

STIs are contagious, so if you have more than one partner, avoid sex until you have been checked and possibly treated – the clinic can advise you on timings. If you have one partner and he/she has an STI that has been treated, avoid sex or use condoms until 7 days after you have both been treated.

Treatment for common STIs – chlamydia and gonorrhoea – respond to a short course of antibiotics, as they are bacterial infections. Whereas genital herpes caused by the HSV virus are viral, therefore antivirals only stop the spread to the infection, but does not help treat.

With more than one partner, people worry about when or from whom they got an STI. The answer is, it’s difficult to say – infections can sit without detection for weeks to months. Your current partner(s) and anyone a certain time frame (depending on the infection you may test positive for) will require treatment, even if they have no symptoms. And you can get the same STI again.

If you think you have been exposed to HIV, you should attend a Sexual Health Clinic as soon as possible, They may consider you for post-exposure prophylaxis, (PEP), a combination of drugs that reduces your risk of contracting HIV. High-risk categories involve men who have sex with men, IV drug use, immigrants to the UK from sub-Saharan Africa, and this is whether you had vaginal or anal sex or are sharing drug-taking equipment.

The risk of hepatitis B requires careful assessment, as some partners are from high-risk categories depending on their place of birth and lifestyle factors such as intravenous drug use. This is a highly contagious viral infection, and a Sexual Health Clinic will help determine your risk.

Make an appointment with your Sexual Health Clinic (or doctor, if they offer these services), who can test you for STIs. For men, this will involve a urine test and blood test, for women it’s a self-taken vaginal swab and a blood test. A pregnancy test involves a urine sample, but you can buy these and do this at home.

If you think you have been exposed to HIV from the high-risk categories above, you should attend a Sexual Health Clinic as soon as possible, to be assessed for PEP – the sooner this is taken (within 3 days), the more effective it will be.

If you think you have been at risk of pregnancy and would not wish to keep it, you can be assessed for emergency contraception – but you need to do this as soon as possible, and within 5 days, for this to be effective.

Depending on your concerns, you should prioritise visiting the Sexual Health Clinic as soon as possible, but you are not medically unwell so you can still go to work.