Some STIs cause no symptoms in the early stages, so testing runs off dates and exposures rather than off how you feel. In Ontario the testing itself is free.
What the visit covers
- Working out which tests you need, and which sites they come from
- Testing with no symptoms, after a new partner or a split condom
- How long after sex each test can detect an infection
- What a positive result starts: treatment, and telling partners
Which sample, when it can find anything, and how often to test
Chlamydia and gonorrhea are found with a NAAT, a test that looks for the organism's genetic material. For the genital site, Canada's guidance puts a vaginal swab — which you can take yourself — or first-void urine first for women, and first-void urine or a urethral swab for men. Throat and rectal swabs are added from your sexual history: the gonorrhea guidance asks for a rectal swab after receptive anal sex regardless of whether a condom was used, and a throat swab where there has been oral sex. Urine answers for the urethra and nowhere else, so be specific about the kinds of sex you have had; it decides which samples get taken.
Timing is different for each infection, and a test taken too early can read negative while the infection is there. For chlamydia and gonorrhea, Canada's guidance says post-exposure testing with a NAAT can be done without waiting 48 hours. HIV takes weeks: Public Health Ontario puts the screening blood test at reactive 2 to 4 weeks after exposure, a median of 18 days, with more than 99 per cent of people reactive by 6 weeks, and after a high-risk exposure it advises a test at 3 weeks and another at 6 if the first is negative. Syphilis works the same way — its screening test can read negative in early infection, and Public Health Ontario advises repeating it in 4 weeks where syphilis is suspected. Ask when to come back, and write the date down.
With no symptoms at all, Canada's chlamydia guidance still asks for a test once a year for everyone sexually active under 30, and every three to six months for anyone with more than one partner or a new partner since the last test. In pregnancy it is a test in the first trimester and again in the third. Where rates of infection are high, the same guidance goes as far as every three months.
What OHIP covers
The medication is the part to ask about, not the test. OHIP does not cover prescription drugs outside a hospital — antibiotics prescribed by a family doctor are the example Ontario gives on its own coverage page — so anything filled at a pharmacy runs through whatever drug coverage you have, or your pocket. Ask what the prescription is and what a pharmacy will charge for it.
Walk in, or book?
Call first. Working out which samples you need takes a few minutes of dates and exposures, so ask whether that fits the walk-in queue or needs an appointment, and whether the samples are taken at the visit or you take a requisition to a lab. If you have symptoms now — discharge, pain passing urine, a sore or an ulcer — say so on the phone rather than booking the next free slot.
What to bring
- Your health card, if you have one
- Two dates: the last sex you want covered, and your last test
- Which kinds of sex you have had — it decides which sites are tested
- The name of anything you were treated with before, and whether it cleared
- A phone number you can take a private call on
Questions people ask
Where can I get tested for free, without a health card?
Peel Public Health runs healthy sexuality clinics at three Mississauga addresses: 325 Central Parkway West, Unit 21; 6975 Meadowvale Town Centre Circle, Suite N03; and 7205 Goreway Drive, lower level. STI testing and treatment are free there, so is testing for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and no referral or health card is needed. Anonymous HIV testing — the result under a code instead of your name — runs only at designated sites, and these are among them. Appointments are on 905-799-7700, weekdays 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, and each site also has its own walk-in hours. Peel points as well to GetaKit.ca: Ontario residents 16 and over can register online for STI testing that finishes at a lab, and at 18 and over a free HIV self-test can be mailed to you.
Does one negative result mean I am clear of everything?
No. A result answers for the infections that were ordered and for the site each sample came from: urine will not find gonorrhea in a throat or a rectum, and HIV and syphilis are blood tests. Ask which infections were ordered for you, and whether the date you tested was late enough to count for each one.
What happens after a positive result?
Treatment first: diagnosed early, most STIs are cured with antibiotics or other medication. Then the people you have had sex with — Ontario's instruction is to alert every past and present partner after a diagnosis, and if you would rather not, a public health nurse will contact them instead of you. Take the dates in with you; that is the part nobody can reconstruct afterwards.
How long do results take?
For a standard HIV blood test, Ontario says results are generally available within 72 hours; Public Health Ontario's laboratory puts it at up to three business days from when the sample arrives, and up to six when a reactive result needs confirming. Where a rapid point-of-care test is offered it is read in under ten minutes, and a self-test gives you the result yourself. Chlamydia and gonorrhea samples go to a lab and back to whoever ordered them, so ask how the result will reach you, and by when.
Still have a question? Call the front desk.
Related
- Women's healthCervical screening, contraception, menopause
- Men's health and screeningScreening, prostate and heart questions
- Walk-in clinic in MississaugaColds, infections, rashes, minor injuries
