STD testing provides important protection for you and your sexual partners. It is important that any diseases which you may have contracted are recognized as treated as quickly as possible, in order to protect your own health and to prevent you from infecting anybody else.
It is important to be tested for STDs if you have experienced any symptoms that may have been caused by a sexually transmitted disease. However, you should not wait until you start exhibiting symptoms before you get an STD test. Some diseases may not produce any recognizable symptoms, but they can still be harmful and you can still infect other people. You should make sure that you are tested if you find out or are informed that one of your sexual partners has been showing signs of an STD or that they have been diagnosed as having an STD. You should inform your doctor of your partner's symptoms or the name of the STD with which they have been infected since this will ensure that you are being tested for the relevant STDs.
If you believe you may have been exposed to an STD, for example because you had unprotected sex or you has sex with a new partner, then you should visit your doctor or clinic for an STD test as soon as possible. However, some STDs may not show up on these tests immediately. Your doctor will be able to advise you on when you should return for another test, usually in three to six months. As well as being tested when you know that you have been at risk of becoming infected, or when you have symptoms of an STD, it is also important to undergo regular testing to make sure that you and your sexual partners are safe.
Ideally, you should undergo STD testing whenever you have a new sexual partner, or if your partner has a sexual relationship with someone else. If possible, you should make sure that your partner is also tested for STDs at the beginning of your relationship. The frequency of your STD tests will then be determined by the number of sexual partners which you have. If you are in a monogamous relationship with someone whose sexual history you know, and you have both been tested for STDs, then you may not need to undergo another test unless one of you has a new sexual partner.
However, it may not be possible to know whether your partner has been faithful, or you may change partners fairly frequently, or have a partner who will not agree to be tested. It can therefore be sensible to get tested for STDs on a regular basis. Most people who are sexually active should be tested for STDs once a year, but those who are at a high risk of infection should be tested more regularly. You may want to get tested every month, every three months or every six months, depending on how often you have a new sexual partner and how high the risk of infection is.
Risk factors for infection include having multiple partners, being sexually active with someone who has not been tested for STDs or whose sexual history you do not know, working in the sex industry, and having unprotected sex, either because you did not use a condom or because the condom split or malfunctioned. You should consider these factors when you decide how often you should be tested for STDs.