QUESTIONS ABOUT STDS: WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE AN STD?

Anyone, of any age, who thinks he or she may have an STD should go straight to a special clinic for free advice, testing and treatment. It is not necessary to be referred by your GP. The names and addresses of special clinics can be found on posters and notices displayed in doctors’ surgeries, health centres, post offices, and Citizens’ Advice Bureaux. The special clinics are sometimes called the Departments of Genito-urinary Medicine, STD clinics or Special Treatment Centres. You can also call a Brook Advisory Centre for advice on how to get treatment.

Testing and treatment is entirely confidential. You don’t need your parents’ permission. The people at the clinic will not inform your parents (or anyone else for that matter) that you have been tested and/or treated for an STD. The people who work at the special clinics are used to dealing with young people who have STDs. You needn’t feel embarrassed or ashamed to go to a clinic.

Even if you don’t have symptoms, but think you may have had contact with an infected person, it’s important that you be tested. Even if your symptoms have disappeared, the germs may still be in your body causing damage, and you can still pass the infection to others. So it’s important to be tested even if your symptoms have subsided.

You should go to a clinic immediately so you can be tested and treated as soon as possible. If you do have an STD, it’s important that you notify all your recent sexual partners so they, too, can be tested and treated.

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