Originally Posted by
schingchang
...No it is 3 months. Doesn't matter what they "offer", as long as they are a WL, the recommendation from sexual health clinics is a 3 month screening check if there are no symptoms. Otherwise if there are symptoms, to come and get checked (probably treated) right away. I don't need to ask a doctor, I work in health care and often see many sex health patients.
There are no permanent side effects from bacterial STIs such as chlamydia if treated EARLY. EARLY being the main word here, there are permanent damage such as pelvic inflammatory disease for women and infertility for men/women if left unnoticed and untreated. Previous infection does not protect you against future infection as sure most of you know. So the main goal here is to get screened every so often to make sure you are in the clear. Bacterial STIs such as the ones mentioned sometimes carry no symptoms, especially in women ie. over 70 to 80% of women may not notice any symptoms from gonorrhea until the pelvic inflammatory stage which becomes quite painful and damaging.
Like someone mentioned, it really is a numbers game if you partake in risky behavior, so for the better of the community it is best to get checked regularly to protect everyone including yourself. As you may have something that can be easily treated (ie. Chlamydia) but can turn nasty once you let it fester if symptoms do not show, while also infecting others.
Someone mentioned urine being not able to pick up STIs. Urine for detection of bacterial STIs such as the ones mentioned, have a sensitivity of over 98/99%. Basically, if one single strand of chlamydia DNA is picked up in the urine, it will be picked up by the assaying equipment, so it is quite a good test.