Healthy Sex medical package

Healthy Sex medical package

The package includes the necessary laboratory tests to detect the most commonly transmitted sexual diseases, including HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C.

Who is the package for?

• Have you had or do you have casual sexual intercourses (vaginal, oral or anal), especially without sufficient protection?
• Do you often change sexual partners?
• Do you suspect or know that your partner is cheating on you?
• Are you starting a new relationship and want to stop using condoms?
• Are you planning to get pregnant (remember that an untreated venereal disease - even if asymptomatic - can adversely affect the development of the foetus)?

Don’t postpone this – get tested. Keep yourself and your partner safe.

If you have any risky sexual contact, it makes sense to have a test to detect potential infection. Some of these are blood tests (e.g. testing for HIV exposure), others involve taking a swab from the genitourinary tract.

If risky sexual contact has taken place within the past 72 hours, it is worth to consider HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). It is a method of prophylaxis that involves taking antiretroviral treatment for 28 days as soon as possible after potential exposure to possibly infectious material, e.g. blood, semen, vaginal mucus, and pre-ejaculate. The aim of PEP is to significantly reduce the risk of HIV exposure.

What makes the package worth using?

Just one blood draw can detect as many as several sexually transmitted diseases such as hepatitis B and/or C, HIV, syphilis – and it may ensure that you are not a carrier of any of them.

What is included in the package?

The package includes laboratory blood tests:

• HBs-antigen – a test carried out to detect the virus that causes hepatitis B. It allows early diagnosis of the disease, as the HBs antigen appears in the blood only a few weeks after infection.
• HCV antibodies – testing for hepatitis C. Most HCV infections are asymptomatic for a long time – the patients only become aware of it when the infection develops into chronic hepatitis C, with cirrhosis of the liver and noticeable symptoms from other organs.
• Anti-HIV antibodies with p24 antigen (COMBO test) – HIV is the acquired human immunodeficiency virus. The test can identify the virus as early as 2-8 weeks after being exposed. Early diagnosis of the infection and implementation of treatment reduce the risk of death from AIDS and infection-related diseases, and allow infected persons to live as long as the rest of the population.
• Antibodies against Treponema pallidum – it is the bacterium that causes syphilis. If left untreated, the disease can lead to irreversible damage to many organs over time. Syphilis can be completely cured with antibiotics.
• Total anti-HBc antibodies – a test used in the diagnosis of hepatitis B. It identifies two classes of antibodies (IgG and IgM) directed against the HBc protein produced by the immune system in response to hepatitis B virus infection. The test can both detect infection and determine how long ago it occurred.

All sexually active people can be infected with a sexually transmitted disease.

Some of these diseases do not initially develop any specific symptoms, so the only way to confirm the exposure is through comprehensive testing.

Fortunately, if detected early, they can be treated effectively.

If left untreated, they can cause serious, irreversible damage to the health/body (e.g. lead to the development of cancer and even premature death, make it difficult to get pregnant or cause complications in newborn babies) – so it is very important to get tested and treated as early as possible.

How to get prepared for the test?

This is a test that uses venous blood – there is no need for special preparation. The blood draw on an empty stomach is not necessary.

The results

• The waiting time for the results is 2 working days;
• Collection of the test results is at the medical centre indicated by the patient on the day of the visit;
• When the anti-HIV antibody test with p24 antigen produces a positive (reactive) or doubtful result, it is recommended to repeat the COMBO test; the price of the additional test is paid by the patient.

Please note: You should also be aware of other sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis, genital herpes, and HPV infections. If you notice worrying symptoms such as itching, burning, non-healing irritation in the genital area, rashes or other skin lesions on the genitals, pain on urination, bad smell or unusual discharge from the genitals (e.g. blood), in the first instance book an appointment with a doctor (dermatologist-venereologist, gynaecologist or urologist) who will decide on a course of action and recommend appropriate diagnostics and treatment.