Each STI has its own incubation period, which is how long it takes for symptoms to appear. In some cases, it can take months for an STI to show up on tests. In other cases, it may only take days.
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. If there's any chance you have an STI, go to a sexual health clinic or GP for a free and confidential check-up.
In as little as one day, chlamydia may show up in your system, but testing should be done at least five days after exposure. It is recommended you retest two weeks after treatment to make sure you are free of the infection.
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.
A doctor can test for chlamydia by swabbing the vagina, cervix, rectum, or throat, or by taking a urine sample. If symptoms appear, they usually present within 7–21 days of exposure. A test can normally detect chlamydia within 1–2 weeks of exposure.
The results
In most cases your result will be available within 7 days. A negative result means you have not been infected. A positive result means that you have chlamydia and should get treated. Those that are pregnant will need to have a repeat test in 4 weeks to check it has gone.
Chlamydia often has no noticeable symptoms. If symptoms do appear, they usually do so 7–21 days of exposure. However, it can take weeks to months for people to notice any changes. Tests can usually detect chlamydia 1–2 weeks after exposure.
Finding out whether you have had the infection in the past is trickier - the bacterium will probably disappear from your system within a year. However the disease may have left scars - and a doctor will be able to pick those up.
Although chlamydia is highly contagious, it does not always transmit to a person's sexual partners. It is also possible to have a false-negative test result. Having more frequent sex with a partner who has chlamydia may increase a person's risk of contracting it.
Chlamydia Incubation Period: between 7 and 21 days. Chlamydia Window Period: between 1 and 5 days.
Practice Abstinence
The surest way to avoid STDs is to not have sex. This means not having vaginal, oral, or anal sex.
If your partner has gonorrhea or chlamydia, is it possible to have unprotected sex and not get these infections? While it is possible to have vaginal, oral, or anal sex with an infected partner and not get infected, it's unlikely.
Chlamydia is very common: it's the most frequently reported infectious disease in Australia, and nearly 97,000 men and women are diagnosed with it each year. If you're sexually active and under 30 years of age, you are at the highest risk of contracting chlamydia.
It takes 7 days for the medicine to work in your body and cure Chlamydia infection. If you have sex without a condom during the 7 days after taking the medicine, you could still pass the infection to your sex partners, even if you have no symptoms.
Chlamydia is incredibly difficult to diagnose due to its symptomless nature for 70% of women and 50% of men. The only certain way to know that you have chlamydia is to get tested. If you do have symptoms then you will still need to be tested to effectively diagnose that the symptoms are caused by chlamydia.
If you don't have a Medicare card or don't wish to obtain one you can visit a sexual health clinic or pay to see a doctor. Doctors only require a Medicare card for people who want to claim the cost of the consultation. The services sexual health clinics offer are free and do not require a Medicare card.
The Window Period for Common STIs:
Chlamydia: Window period: 5-14 days. Gonorrhoea: Window period: 5-14 days. Herpes: Window period: 6-12 weeks. Syphilis: Window period: 4-12 weeks.
It's quite another to learn you have an STI while you're in a monogamous relationship. If you have been totally faithful, you may assume that your partner acquired the infection while being unfaithful. Though it's possible they may have been intimate with someone else, it's also possible they never cheated at all.
Yes! Even if you're in a long-term, monogamous relationship, it's possible for you or your partner to have a previously undiagnosed and untreated STI.