Hi,

The short answer is no.

To be on the safe side we recommend that you do not have sex until:

• one week after your 1-day treatment; or
• your 7-day treatment is complete, and
• your sex partner(s) have also been treated, even if their test results are negative.

While condoms reduce the chance of passing chlamydia and gonorrhea, there is still a possibility of passing them even when a condom is used.

Even after you start taking treatment for chlamydia and/or gonorrhea, you can still pass them in the first 7 days. It takes 7 days for the medication to treat these infections. Only after 7 days is the chance of passing these infections gone.

Even if your partner is taking treatment at the same time as you, we still say do not have sex until after 7 days. The treatment won’t work if someone is re-exposed to chlamydia or gonorrhea in those 7 days.

If you can’t avoid having sex for 7 days, then using a condom will help lower the chance of passing the STI to your partners, but there is no guarantee.

In addition to passing the infection to your partner(s) (or back to yourself), it’s important to avoid sex when you have chlamydia or gonorrhea because the STI can increase your risk of getting HIV. Once the chlamydia or gonorrhea is gone, the HIV risk is normal again.

If you did have sex during the 7 days, then we recommend that you talk to the doctor or clinic where you got the treatment. In some situations, they will recommend that you and your partner(s) get re-treated, or they may suggest that you come back for a follow-up test in 4 weeks.

Have a look at our web page on chlamydia for additional information.

Health Nurse

For other readers, please feel free to leave a comment, or let us know if this was helpful.