Hello: what are the incubation periods of syphillus, chlyamydia and gonorrhea (and any other commons STI's)? So, if someone had sex on x day, when would the test for those STI's be accurately detecting them or not? Also, for HIV, is it 6 months? I asked another question about hep boosters the other day. Sorry, I forgot to ask the above. Thank you.

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Home / Answered Questions / Hello: what are the incubation periods of syphillus, chlyamydia and gonorrhea (and any other commons STI’s)? So, if someone had sex on x day, when would the test for those STI’s be accurately detecting them or not? Also, for HIV, is it 6 months? I asked another question about hep boosters the other day. Sorry, I forgot to ask the above. Thank you.

Hello: what are the incubation periods of syphillus, chlyamydia and gonorrhea (and any other commons STI’s)? So, if someone had sex on x day, when would the test for those STI’s be accurately detecting them or not? Also, for HIV, is it 6 months? I asked another question about hep boosters the other day. Sorry, I forgot to ask the above. Thank you.

Hi thanks for your questions. The incubation periods for different STI’s are given in a range of time from the date of first being able to detect the STI to covering the risk definitely e.g chlamydia has a 2 -6 week incubation period so testing might happen at the 2 week mark and then again at 6 weeks to cover it. You may find it useful to look at this chart that lists the various STI’s, symptoms and incubation periods. https://smartsexresource.com/sites/default/files/Smartsex_SUPERCHART_2014_v2.pdf The earliest HIV can be detected is at 2 weeks from risk. With the new generation of HIV tests, HIV testing at 3 months from the risk is considered to accurately cover the incubation time.

This answer was posted on February 24, 2018.