STI testing - Sexually Transmitted Diseases Message Board

jonathan123 · 02-05-2009, 08:53 AM

Over a year ago, I quite regretably had sex with a prostitute, who approached me as I was walking back to my flat. We only had sex once and I used a condom.

Just to be on the safe side, I went to my sexual health clinic a few months following the night with the prostitute. The doctor asked me if I had any symptoms, I said no. He also asked me what I wanted to be tested for; I replied 'I'm not sure, just a general check up'.

I'm not entirely sure what I was tested for. Firstly he collected something from my urethra. Secondly they took a urine sample, and thirdly, he took a blood sample (I think this was testing for Hepatitis B)

My question is this, would these three types of tests that the doctor took test for a range of STI's or just for a specific STI. For instance, would the blood sample they took just expose whether I had Hepattitis B, or would it detect whether I had Syphilis as well? Similarily, would the urine sample test for Chlamydia aswell as Gonorrhea?

rhiannon777 · 02-06-2009, 03:52 PM

What a particular clinic tests for will vary, but usually basic STD testing will include chlamydia and gonorrhea (the sample from your urethra and/or the urine sample) as well as syphilis and Hepatitis B (the blood sample). HIV testing is often included, but usually you must give specific consent for that test, so if you didn't specifically discuss HIV testing, you may not have been tested for it.

If the doctor didn't order a specific test, then it wouldn't show up incidentally in another test. I suggest contacting the clinic and taking a look at your records to be sure what you were tested for.

jonathan123 · 02-07-2009, 07:31 AM

Thanks for the reply, thats made it a lot clearer. I didn't have to give any consent for a test so I guess I didn't get tested for HIV. Is it possibly to get hold of your testing records? Should I ring up the GUM clinic and inquire?