Which test do I need?
Panels, urine, blood and swab tests, and what each one can find.
- Full STD Panel: What It Tests For (and What It Misses)What a full or 10-panel STD test usually includes, the infections and body sites it can miss, why timing matters, and how to check what you're actually getting.
- How Does an STD Test Work? Step by StepHow an STD test works from start to finish: the samples used, what labs look for, why timing matters, how long results can take and what happens next.
- Oral STD Testing: Throat Tests for Chlamydia and GonorrheaA urine test can't check your throat. Here is how throat swab tests for gonorrhea and chlamydia work, who should ask for one, and when to test after oral sex.
- Rapid STD Tests: How Accurate Are They?What a rapid STD test is, how accurate rapid HIV, syphilis and chlamydia or gonorrhea tests are, why a negative can be too early, and when you need a lab test.
- STD Blood Tests: Which Infections Need OneWhich STDs are found with a blood test (HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and C, herpes), how soon each can show up, and what a blood test can't tell you.
- STD Testing for Men: Which Tests and How It WorksWhich STD tests men may need, how urine, blood and throat or rectal swabs are used, how often CDC says to test, and why there is no routine HPV test for men.
- STD Testing for Women: Which Tests and How It WorksWhich STD tests women and people with a vagina may need, vaginal swab vs urine, why a Pap test isn't an STD test, and what CDC says about pregnancy and age.
- STD Urine Test: What It Can and Can't DetectWhich STDs a urine test can find, which need blood or a swab instead, how to prepare, and why a urine test can't cover throat or rectal infections.