STD (sexually transmitted disease) Testing, Treatment: Gonorrhea and Chlamydia
STD’s (sexually transmitted diseases) are on the rise in Orange County and Santa Ana. The problem with std’s is that most are asymptomatic, meaning they do not cause symptoms. Therefore, many people are carriers of an std without even knowing it.
The main way to combat sexually transmitted diseases is to first educate the public against participating in high risk behavior which expedites transmission, and second by making std testing widely available so that a larger proportion of carriers become aware and undergo immediate treatment for the STD.
Gonorrhea and chlamydia are a couple of silent STD’s that are easily transmitted and asymptomatic during the early course of transmission. Chlamydia is particularly silent, and vast majority of carriers do not realize that chlamydia is present in their bodies. For this reason, both gonorrhea and chlamydia have recently increased in prevalence in many populations in the Orange County area, such as Santa Ana, Anaheim, Tustin, Fullerton, Huntington Beach, Orange, Costa Mesa.
A doctor or clinic very easily does screening or testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia. Either a pelvic exam can be done to obtain cultures, or even more easily, a urine sample is provided which can be cultured. The results are available within a week or so.
Gonorrhea and chlamydia are both very easily treated. Gonorrhea is treated with a single shot of ceftriaxone (an antibiotic similar to penicillin). Chlamydia is treated with a single dose of oral Zithromax (a macrolide antibiotic). One important consideration is to also treat any and all exposed partners to the affected individual. If any partner is not treated, that partner can re-transmit that STD back to the treated individual, rendering the treatment worthless.
For these reasons, it is imperative that most at-risk individuals obtain at least yearly screening testing for STD’s such as gonorrhea and chlamydia.
We are located in Santa Ana, but we serve patients that visit us from all of Southern California, including Orange County, San Bernardino, San Diego, Riverside, Temecula, and Los Angeles. We have patients from the following cities: