Several of the more than 20 types of STDs can lie dormant for months, years, or even decades. Dormant STDs and STIs highlight the importance of sexual health testing, as only a test can determine if an asymptomatic infection is present.
Untreated STDs can grow unchecked for years in your body and cause potentially serious or deadly diseases to develop. For example, someone with HPV can get cervical or anal cancer, while syphilis can cause blindness, dementia, and heart or kidney damage.
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.
Chlamydia is one of those STIs that people can live with for years without knowing they have it. That's because it's usually symptomless. It's also very common – in 2019 alone, over 23,000 Queenslanders were diagnosed with chlamydia.
But when the long-term side effects of STIs can include chronic pelvic pain, infertility and in rare cases, cancer, it turns out they are no laughing matter. STIs are spread from one person to another through sex and sexual body contact.
Eight pathogens are linked to the greatest incidence of STIs. 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).
All STDs are caused by an STI. These infections are usually transmitted through sexual contact , including through bodily fluids or skin contact via vaginal, oral, and anal sex. Some of them never become a disease, especially if they're treated, and they can even go away on their own.
Some untreated STIs can also lead to infertility, organ damage, certain types of cancer or death.
People can be, and often are, living with an STI for many years without knowing it. During that time, if they're not careful, they can transmit the infection to some or all of their sex partners.
The incubation periods for STDs vary significantly; here are just a few examples of STD incubation periods: Gonorrhea – One to 28 days. Genital and oral herpes – Two to 12 days. Trichomoniasis – Five to 28 days.
Some people get symptoms within 5 to 28 days after getting the infection. Others do not develop symptoms until much later. Symptoms can come and go.
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) as they are also referred to, often have no symptoms. However, if left untreated there can be serious consequences including blindness and other neurologic manifestations, infertility, mother-to-child transmission or birth defects.
Incurable STDs. Currently, there are 4 sexually transmitted infections (STIs or STDs) that are not curable: herpes (HSV), hepatitis B (HBV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and human papillomavirus (HPV).
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.
For home STD testing, you collect a urine sample or an oral or genital swab, and then send it to a lab for analysis. You can collect the sample in the privacy of your home without the need for a pelvic exam or office visit.
Although kissing is considered to be low-risk when compared to intercourse and oral sex, it's possible for kissing to transmit CMV, herpes, and syphilis. CMV can be present in saliva, and herpes and syphilis can be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact, particularly at times when sores are present.
The signs that usually alert men to an infection—bumps or rashes on the genitals, discharge, discomfort or itching in the penis or testicles, or pain while urinating or ejaculating—can be mild and easily mistaken for other conditions.
STD stands for “sexually transmitted disease,” and STI stands for “sexually transmitted infection.” But no matter which term people use, they're talking about the same thing: infections that get passed from one person to another during sex.
How long can you have chlamydia for? An untreated chlamydia infection can persist for several years. Although this goes for both men and women, it is believed that men are less likely to carry the bacteria for several years. If you remain infected for a long time you have an increased risk of complications.
The upshot is that it's possible for some — not all — STDs to go away by themselves, but it's also possible for STDs to persist for months, years, or the rest of your life. If you could have been exposed to an STD, the best thing to do is get tested — not to hope that if you did get something, it'll just go away.