Chlamydia & Gonorrhea Panel
Post-Test Actions: Treatment and Partner Notification
After completing your chlamydia and gonorrhea panel, you should receive your test results within a few days. Your results will either be positive or negative for both STIs.
A positive result means the lab has detected the presence of the chlamydia or gonorrhea bacteria in your sample. The results will indicate which infection is present, if not both. Your healthcare provider will use your test results to determine which antibiotic treatment to prescribe.
The most common treatment for gonorrhea is an intramuscular injection of 500 mg of ceftriaxone. If you tested positive for chlamydia, your provider may prescribe either oral doxycycline or oral azithromycin.
If you have both STDs, your provider may prescribe a combination of both types of treatments. Be sure to follow your provider’s instructions precisely and take the full round of antibiotics, even if you feel better. Failing to complete treatment could leave you with antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea or chlamydia, which is much more challenging to treat.
If you initially tested negative for chlamydia and/or gonorrhea, you may have had a false negative result. If you’re experiencing symptoms, your healthcare provider may advise a re-test within a few weeks.
Post-Treatment Actions
After completing your treatment for either or both infections, you should wait at least seven days before having sex again. Doing so will give the treatment time to kill off your infection.
You should also notify anyone you have had sex within the past 60 days of your test results and urge them to seek testing as well. Your sexual partners could also unknowingly have chlamydia and/or gonorrhea, and without testing, they may allow these conditions to progress into worse health effects.
While notifying your partners may feel embarrassing, it doesn’t have to be a big deal. Send them a quick text or email and stick to the facts. You don’t need to provide unnecessary details; just inform them of your results.
Your healthcare provider will likely advise that you complete a test-of-cure approximately three months after completing treatment. This test will evaluate whether your treatment cleared the chlamydia/gonorrhea infection from your body.