STDs that may show signs and symptoms soon after exposure include herpes and gonorrhea. Chlamydia, which is the most commonly reported sexually transmitted disease, may be reactive the next day; however, chlamydia has the ability to remain dormant for years.
It depends on which sexually transmitted infection (STI) you have. Symptoms can develop within a few days or weeks, but sometimes they do not appear until months or even years later. Often there are few or no symptoms and you may not know you have an STI.
Herpes is easy to catch. All it takes is skin-to-skin contact, including areas that a condom doesn't cover. You're most contagious when you have blisters, but you don't need them to pass the virus along. Because herpes is a virus, you can't cure it.
The most dangerous viral STD is human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which leads to AIDS. Other incurable viral STDs include human papilloma virus (HPV), hepatitis B and genital herpes.
HPV. While HIV may be the most well-known and feared STD, Human Papillomavirus is the most common. According to the CDC, approximately 79 million Americans are currently infected and nearly all sexually active men and women will contract HPV at some point in their lives.
Trichomoniasis (or “trich”) is the most common of the curable STIs. The organism Trichomonas vaginalis is a parasite which lives in the lower genital tract and is generally transmitted through sexual intercourse.
How long can you spread chlamydia? After exposure, symptoms appear in 1 to 4 weeks. Someone with chlamydia is contagious until the infected person completes a 7 day course of antibiotics or 7 days after taking single-dose antibiotics. Most people do not clear chlamydia without antibiotic treatment.
Chlamydia is one of the most common STIs in women under 25 and is known as a “silent” infection, since most people never experience symptoms.
Chlamydia bacteria often cause symptoms that are similar to cervicitis or a urinary tract infection (UTI). You may notice: White, yellow or gray discharge from your vagina that may be smelly. Pus in your urine (pyuria).
STD Symptoms If you already have an STD such as herpes or HIV, anxiety will have the effect of bringing dormant symptoms (such as sores on and in the mouth or the genital areas) to the forefront.
Test results normally take about one week. If your result is positive, sexual partners also need to be tested and treated. This is called contact tracing.
The "window period" for the chlamydia and gonorrhea NAAT test is unknown. It may range from ~5 days up to 2 weeks. If patients have a known exposure, they should be tested and treated. If there was a risk exposure, they should be tested at time of visit.
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infection
HPV is the most common STI in the United States, but most people with the infection have no symptoms. HPV can cause some health effects that are preventable with vaccines.
Of these, 4 are currently curable: syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia and trichomoniasis. The other 4 are incurable viral infections: hepatitis B, herpes simplex virus (HSV), HIV and human papillomavirus (HPV).
The CDC reports that chlamydia can be easily treated with a course of antibiotics. But this does not mean that amoxicillin is effective simply because it is an antibiotic. The CDC recommends that healthcare providers prescribe either azithromycin or doxycycline to treat chlamydia.
Which one is worse, chlamydia or gonorrhea? Both untreated chlamydia and gonorrhea can lead to serious health problems such as pelvic inflammatory disease and disseminated gonococcal infection. However, gonorrhea is more likely to cause long-term health complications like infertility.