Sexual Health
What is sexually transmitted disease?
Sexually Transmitted disease (STD) is an infection that is passed from one person to another through sexual interaction, either through direct skin contact or infected body fluids. Anyone who engages in sexual activity may be at risk of STD.
What are the common STD’s that you need to be aware of?
- Chlamydia
- Gonorrhoea
- Herpes Simplex Virus I & II
- Human papilloma virus
- Trichomoniasis
- Syphilis
- Hepatitis B
- HIV
How common are STD’s in Singapore?
Based on data published in 2016, the most common STD’s in Singapore are Chlamydia and Gonorrhea with 2,900 and 1,872 cases respectively documented in that year. Please keep in mind that sexually transmitted diseases are underdiagnosed and reported worldwide. Therefore, these numbers may be a fraction of the actual incidence.
What are the examples of high risk sexual behaviours?
- Unprotected vaginal or anal intercourse
- Unprotected oral intercourse.
- Engaging in sexual activity from a young age.
- Sexually active with multiple partners
- Sexually active with a high-risk partner (one who is engaged in these high risk behaviours)
- Working in the sex trade industry
- Having intercourse with a partner who engages in injected illicit drug use.
- Men who have Sex with Men (MSM)
What are the common signs and symptoms of STD’s?
In a lot of instances, STD’s may not show any sign or symptom. This is more so in women, where up to 80 percent of women may not show any signs and symptoms of a chlamydia infection. In these cases, the infection is active and needs to be treated to prevent its complications and transmission to partners. When STD’s do present with symptoms, it may include:
- Discharge from the genital region (Anus, urethra or vagina)
- Pain on passing urine
- Sores or ulcers in the genital region (may be painful or painless)
- Blisters in the genital region
- Growths on genital region
- Swollen or enlarged lymph glands in the groin
- Rash (may be localised to the genitals or distributed to other parts of the body)
*The above list is not exhaustive.
Pearls of STD testing
If you think you are at risk of contracting an STD infection, testing is the only way to find out. If you develop any symptoms, please see a doctor as there are many other diseases that can have similar symptoms to STD’s.
When it comes to STD testing, at Mint Medical Centre, we do not believe in “one package fits all”. This is partly due to the fact that each type of STD has different testing window periods. All patients will need a full consultation including examination with the doctor so that testing can be tailored to each patient.
STD testing pricing at Mint Medical Centre: Starts from SGD$ 20 and can go up to SGD$ 400 (Male’s) & SGD$ 500 (Female’s).
When in doubt feel free to drop us an enquiry and our doctors will be more than happy to advise you on the next steps.
