Chlamydia and gonorrhoea test kit

Chlamydia and gonorrhoea are common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that can affect both men and women. You should do an STI test a couple of weeks after you’ve had unprotected sex if you do not know your partner’s STI status.

Unprotected sex can happen with vaginal, oral or anal sex. If you have not used a condom or think it might have been damaged, you’ll be at risk of getting an STI. You can pass on chlamydia or gonorrhoea if you share sex toys between partners. You can also pass on the infection if you and your partner’s genitals come into contact without having sex.

Chlamydia is caused by the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis. Some symptoms of chlamydia include:

• unusual discharge from your vagina, penis or bottom
• pain when urinating
• for men, pain or swelling in the testes
• for women, pain in your tummy and bleeding after having sex or between periods

You may not feel any symptoms if you have chlamydia. It’s recommended to get an STI test every year if you are sexually active with new partners.

While chlamydia can be treated with antibiotics, leaving it untreated can lead to more serious health problems. For example, women can develop pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) or have problems with infertility. In men, untreated chlamydia can cause problems in the testicles, where they produce sperm.

Gonorrhoea is caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Some symptoms of gonorrhoea include:

• thick green or yellow discharge from your vagina or penis
• pain when urinating
• bleeding in between periods for women

Remember that only 10% of men and 50% of women will experience symptoms of gonorrhoea when infected. You may be infected but not have any symptoms, so it’s always a good idea to get tested after having unprotected sex.

If you are pregnant, you can pass chlamydia or gonorrhoea to your unborn baby. It’s important to get tested after unprotected sex as soon as possible before you give birth.

You can contact your local sexual health clinic or request a test kit from ZAVA.

This test kit will detect the presence of chlamydia or gonorrhoea in the sample you provide:

• for men, you’ll provide a urine sample
• for women, you’ll provide a swab sample

Urine samples tend to be less accurate for women, so we ask you to take a swab sample from your vagina instead.

You do not need to do a blood test for chlamydia or gonorrhoea, but you may need to do one for other STIs like HIV testing and syphilis.

The best time to do the test is 2 weeks after you’ve had unprotected sex. This is because it can take a couple of weeks for the infection to develop. If you’ve only recently been infected, the levels of bacteria in your body can be too low to detect.

You can also request a chlamydia test on its own if you do not want to test for gonorrhoea.

To take the chlamydia and gonorrhoea test, check if you are taking a urine sample or swab sample.

Make sure you read the instruction leaflet that comes with your test kit for more details on how to take the test. You should wash and dry your hands before and after taking any STI test.

If you are taking a urine sample, you’ll be provided with a plastic urine sample container and a urine collection box. To take your test:

• Stick your completed label onto your sample container
• take out the urine collection box for your sample and open out for sample collection
• try to collect the first flow of your urine into the sample collection box
• fill the urine collection box at least halfway and finish urinating in the toilet
• Carefully pour the urine sample from the urine collection box into the labelled sample container and seal the container

You can then put the container inside the prepaid envelope.

If you are taking a swab test, you’ll be taking a sample from your vagina. Try to avoid using any vaginal creams or products before you take the sample. To take the sample, you should:

• twist the cap to break the seal of the swab test
• do not touch the tip of the swab
• point the swab towards you and use your other hand to spread the skin outside the vagina
• insert the tip of the swab into the vagina
• you do not need to insert the swab deep into your vagina. Around 2 inches is enough to collect a sample
• rotate the swab inside your vagina for around 10 to 15 seconds
• take it out without touching your skin
• place the swab in the tube provided and seal it securely

Make sure you put the label with your details on the tube before placing it in the prepaid envelope.

You can post your completed test kit in any UK post box.

You should take the chlamydia and gonorrhoea test around 2 weeks after you’ve had unprotected sex. It can take this long for symptoms to show. This is called the incubation period of the infection.

If you test too early, you might get a false negative test result.

Remember not to wait for symptoms to show to decide whether to get tested. If you start to feel symptoms of chlamydia or gonorrhoea, you may already have complications of the infection. You may also have passed it on to a partner without realising it.

Your results will come back to your confidential ZAVA patient account. A doctor will contact you with the result and advise you on the next steps to take, such as treatment options.

If you get a positive result for either chlamydia or gonorrhoea, you’ll need to get treated. Both chlamydia and gonorrhoea can be treated with a short course of antibiotics. To treat gonorrhoea, you should contact your doctor or nearest sexual health service. For chlamydia treatment, you can request antibiotics at ZAVA by filling out a short questionnaire.

You should also speak to any sexual partners you’ve had in the last 6 months to let them know you have tested positive. If you have not had any sexual partners in the previous 6 months, let your most recent sexual partner know your result. They will need to get tested for the STI too.

If your test result is negative and you’re still having symptoms, speak to your doctor or sexual health clinic. It’s unlikely that the result will be a false negative, but it’s better to check with your doctor.

Our chlamydia and gonorrhoea test kits are between 90% to 95% accurate in detecting the infection.

To improve accuracy, it’s better to test at least 2 weeks after you think you might have been infected. Doing a test before these 2 weeks can mean getting a false negative result.

If you’ve had unprotected anal or oral sex, you’ll need a separate test kit. You can request an anal STI test kit or an oral STI test kit from ZAVA.