The Gonorrhea Bacteria

STD stands for Sexually Transmitted Disease. They are passed through sexual activity with someone who already has one. Sexual activity can include vaginal, oral and anal sex, as well as skin to skin (genital-to-genital) contact.

There are many types of STDs, including HIV, Herpes, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and Trich.

Even though all STDs are damaging and infectious diseases, not all of them show symptoms. In fact, most people that have an STD don’t even realize they are infected. Coupled with with 48% of people having never been tested for an STD, this has helped the United States to have the highest rates of STD infection in the industrialized world.

Wondering if you have an STD can be a scary thought. It’s important for you to get tested, and if you are infected, to get treatment. This way you stop the disease from damaging your own body and prevent it spreading to others.

Private Testing Center offers low cost and completely confidential testing, and our counselors are the most knowledgeable, and ethical in the industry. We offer supportive, non-judgemental care for you. Our tests are extremely accurate and some results are available as soon as the next day. We’ll get you answers fast, and if you have a positive result, we’ll provide additional counseling and treatment options.

It’s also important to tell your partner if you think you have an STD. You should both be tested and treated if necessary, or you can pass it back and forth to each other. Remember, your partner can have the STD and not show any symptoms at all.

You may want to talk to a trusted friend or family member, as well. If there is no one you believe you can speak to in person, then you could call a hotline (1-800-CDC-INFO or 1-800-232-4636) or call ASHA’s hotline (1-800-227-8922) and they can help answer questions you may have.

Absolutely not. Our testing is completely confidential, and we are always careful to protect your identity. The only personal information we require is your name and date of birth. We don’t need your address, phone number or social security number. The test results will not appear on your medical record. And we can even take payments via pre-paid gift card if you’re concerned about charges showing up on your account.

We give you results verbally, over the phone. We call from a private or restricted number for your discretion, or you can call us. The biggest reason we want to call you is in the event of positive result, we believe this isn’t something you should read in a letter or an email. We want to be there to counsel you on the next steps and appropriate treatment. But if you request, we can mail, email or fax the results to you as well.

1.5 million people dated on Tinder last week

The only for sure way to avoid STDs is to not have vaginal, anal or oral sex. The next safest after that is to share sex with someone who is not infected, and only have sex with each other. In general, the less sexual partners you and have, the more your risk of STDs goes down. In one CDC study, 20% of participants with only one partner in their lives had an STD, but of those with three or more partners, 50% had at least one STD.

There are also a few easy changes you can make during sex that will greatly reduce your risk:

There’s a misconception out there that getting tested for STDs takes a long time and is uncomfortable, but that’s simply not true. Getting tested for STDs at one of our testing centers near you takes less than 15 minutes on average. Depending on what tests are being performed, we only require a small sample of urine or blood. We are NOT one of the centers that do an invasive (and sometimes painful) swab — it’s just not necessary anymore!

Our counselors will share your results with you over the phone, as we want to be there for you with non-judgmental support and advice. If you do have a positive result, the good news is that many STDs are curable, and those without a cure are treatable.

If you have a result come back positive for an STD that is curable, we will send you to a location to pick up medication. If you are positive for HIV or an STD for which there is no cure, we will set you up with the appropriate facility in your area for additional testing, counseling and treatment.