Treating sexually transmissible infections (STIs)

Results of tests and swabs
After examining you and looking at the swabs under a microscope, the doctor will have a good idea of what is wrong, although the diagnosis may not be absolute at this stage. You may be prescribed treatments to improve symptoms or to treat a suspected infection. In other cases, the doctor may wait until the results of tests are available before prescribing any treatment. He or she will discuss this decision with you and also take your point of view into account.

Health advisor
After seeing the doctor, you will usually be offered an opportunity to chat to a health advisor. He or she is a nurse with special training who can:

• Tell you about sexually transmissible infections
• Give you tips on how to cope with symptoms
• Advise about what to tell your partner
• Tell you when you can have sex again
• Offer you free condoms so you can practice safer sex once you're given the all-clear
• Help you trace partners who need to be screened or treated - either because they could have infected you, or because you may have passed an infection on to them. This involves giving you a slip of paper with a number on it, plus a printed message advising the recipient to visit the clinic and to bring the paper along. This helps to match them with your notes. This contact tracing can be done anonymously and the health advisor will help.

If you're worried you have an STI or want to find out more, check out the symptoms, diagnosis and treatments for:

• Chlamydia
• Genital herpes (HSV)
• Genital warts
• Gonorrhoea
• HIV and AIDS
• Pubic lice
• Scabies
• Syphilis
• Trichomonas