Australia Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) recently approved a chlamydia and gonorrhea self-test kit for women and others with a vagina.
Reports indicate that these home tests will be available in pharmacies from December 13.
So what can we know about this test?
Basics
The test was developed by a Sydney company called Touch Biotechnology.
We don’t know yet how much sellers will charge for it, but people will have to pay for the test out of pocket (Medicare only subsidizes pathological tests performed within the laboratory).
The test covers the 2 most typical sexually transmitted infections (STIs), chlamydia and gonorrhea. Both are bacterial infections.
It’s a vaginal examination. Although you could make a deal chlamydia AND gonorrhea in other parts of the body, including the throat and rectum, there are currently no self-testing kits available in Australia for other places (or for men and others with no vagina).
To collect the sample, you insert the cotton swab into the vagina. The next steps are similar to a home COVID test, although the sample must be mixed with two different solutions fairly than one.
You then place a number of drops of the mixed solution into two separate wells on the cartridge (one for chlamydia and one for gonorrhea). Similar to the COVID test, two lines mean you almost definitely have the infection and one means you probably do not have it. The result can be read after roughly quarter-hour.
Who should take this test?
Most individuals who chlamydia infection will not have any symptoms. But the infection can sometimes cause burning when urinating, vaginal discharge, unusual vaginal bleeding, and pelvic pain.
Gonorrhea it doesn’t normally cause any symptoms when within the vagina, but it may similarly cause vaginal discharge, bleeding, and pain.
All of this implies you do not have to have any symptoms to take the test.
If you shouldn’t have symptoms, it can be crucial not to test too soon after exposure. Chlamydia can take 7–14 days from exposure and gonorrhea may last for about 7 days appear for a test, including laboratory tests. If you’ve had sex with no condom and you’re frightened, it is best to test after about per week (if you have symptoms, it’s sensible to test earlier).
Most sexually transmitted diseases are easy to treat, but when left undiagnosed and treated for an extended time, they could cause complications. For example, chlamydia can enter the uterus and fallopian tubes and cause fertility problems.
Of course, detecting and treating sexually transmitted diseases can be essential to limit their spread. Chlamydia and gonorrhea infections in Australia has increased over the previous couple of years.
How accurate is the test?
The The TGA has strict criteria about how accurate home STI tests need to be. They should have a sensitivity of a minimum of 95%, meaning they accurately discover a minimum of 95% of positive cases.
Touch Biotechnology claims to have an at-home test for chlamydia and gonorrhea sensitivity over 99%.. However, the research behind this number has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
In any case, a positive result still needs to be confirmed by a laboratory test. Therefore, if you test positive, you should seek the advice of your doctor for further testing and treatment advice.
Pressmaster/Shutterstock
Home STI tests will not be entirely new
While this represents an exciting innovation in sexual health, home STD testing just isn’t entirely new in Australia. HIV self-tests are available available in Australian pharmacies from 2021. These tests involve taking a small amount of blood from the fingertip.
Analyzing the effectiveness of home HIV tests may give us clues as to what to expect from newer home tests for chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Although most HIV tests it remains to be performed in clinicsthe provision of self-tests has been shown to increase the frequency of testing HIV test and encourage individuals who have done it never tested before to do that.
Home HIV testing provides a greater level of anonymity compared to a clinic visit. This may be particularly essential for certain populations, including younger people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse or immigrant communities, and men who’ve sex with men who discover as heterosexual.
Research suggests that the majority individuals who test positive for HIV successfully contact HIV the care and treatment they need.
In Australia, women and individuals with a cervix aged 25 and over can now take their very own vaginal swab to screen for HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer. You can take a swab test on the clinic or make an appointment home tests via telehealth.
A few things to consider
When you see the doctor like a health care provider or nurse to check your sexual health, they’ll discuss a spread of issues with you, including contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, vaccinations and other prevention methods.
Home tests mustn’t replace a conversation about sexual health and wellbeing with a health care provider, for example at a GP surgery, sexual health clinic, youth health service or other health service.
And keep in mind that the home test is proscribed to chlamydia and gonorrhea only. If you have symptoms that worry you, comparable to pelvic pain, pain during sex, or pain when urinating, you could have one other sexually transmitted disease or medical problem.
So if you have symptoms and your home chlamydia and gonorrhea tests come back negative, it will be idea to get tested to see what else might be happening.