Robert Taylor, M.D.

Dear Dr. T.,
I am becoming (but not yet physically) involved with a woman who I believe I'll want to court and I consider it essential that I bring no STDs to this relationship. I have no symptoms that would lead me to believe I have an STD but I know that some are asymptomatic. Is there a standard battery of tests to ensure STD free-ness? - Mr. C

Dear Mr. C.,
There is no one test for all possible STDs (there are 24 of them) and some of them have no test. Some are only able to be diagnosed if you have symptoms. If you have a disease like herpes, genital warts or syphilis, you will probably have sores or lesions on the surface of the skin. Unfortunately, it is also possible to have such a small sore that you may not be able to see it. For this reason, it is not possible to say with 100% certainty that a person does not have a disease. Of course if you have never had sex you can't have an STD. For diseases that occur inside the urethra (the tube inside the penis where urine comes out of), an easy test called a urinalysis can often tell if you have one of these. STDs such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, mycoplasmas, yeast and trichomonas, may cause symptoms such as a penile discharge, painful urination or discomfort or they may be totally witout symptoms. A check of the man's urine may show the presence of these germs or of white blood cells. Although the urinalysis test is very sensitive it will not tell which specific STD it is. It only tells you that you have one. Specific cultures can then be performed to determine the individual STD.

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