Hi

You are doing the correct action by going for a test. A STI/HIV test will let you know if something was passed to you. The symptoms you have described can be caused by many different medical conditions so would not be a reliable way to know if you have an STI or not. For the best care it would be good to mention the symptoms you are having to the person that did your testing.

Given the type of sex you described I would recommend getting a full STI test which would include:

(1) Gonorrhea and chlamydia testing from the throat, rectum and urine. Wait at least 2 weeks after sex before doing these tests for the best accuracy.

(2) HIV, Syphilis, Hepatitis B and C blood test. We find that most of these infections would show up by 6 weeks after they passed to someone, but we still recommend doing a final test at 3 months just to make sure.   

It’s great that your blood tests came back negative, but the main factor is how long after the sex did you do the test? Even just a rough idea would be enough information; you don’t need to be exact to the day. If it has been at least 6 weeks from the time when you had sex until your blood test that is a great result and means there is a high chance you are fine, but we still recommend a final test at 3 months to make sure.     

As most STI/HIV do not show symptoms we recommend that people go for regular testing every 3-6 months if there is a chance something could have passed to you.

Condoms offer great protection against HIV and other STI.  I am unsure of the situation in India but in Canada we are also finding that PREP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is becoming very popular in terms of a tool that can stop HIV passing to you.

Let us know if this does not answer your question or if you have any further questions or concerns.

Health Nurse