Expedited partner therapy (EPT) is the practice of treating the sex partners of someone diagnosed with chlamydia or gonorrhea by giving the patient a prescription or the medicine itself to hand to their partner, without the partner being examined first CDC EPT. It's a CDC-backed way to make sure partners actually get treated and you don't get reinfected.
without a separate exam
legal status varies
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| What | treat partners — without a separate exam |
| For | chlamydia & gonorrhea |
| Why | stops reinfection |
| Where | most states — legal status varies |
What is expedited partner therapy, and when is it used?
EPT solves a stubborn problem in STI care: a person gets diagnosed and treated, but their partner never does. That untreated partner stays infected, and the two of you pass the same infection back and forth, which clinicians call reinfection (catching the same bug again after you've already cleared it). With EPT, your clinician treats your partner indirectly. Instead of requiring that partner to book their own visit, get examined, and be tested, the provider writes a prescription in the partner's name (or dispenses the medication) and gives it to you to deliver.
EPT is mainly used for chlamydia and gonorrhea, two bacterial infections that respond predictably to a known, standard course of medication, which is what makes treating someone sight-unseen reasonably safe. It closes the loop by getting partners treated so the cycle of reinfection stops. CDC recommends it as a useful option here, particularly for the male partners of women diagnosed with chlamydia or gonorrhea, who are otherwise among the least likely to show up for their own appointment.
Chlamydia
Chlamydia is the infection EPT was most designed around. It's frequently silent, with many people having no symptoms at all, so a partner has little reason to seek care on their own even though they're infected and able to pass it back. Untreated chlamydia can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (infection that spreads to the uterus and fallopian tubes and can scar them, threatening fertility) in women and epididymitis (inflammation of the tube behind the testicle) in men. If you've been treated, plan on a follow-up test down the line, because chlamydia reinfection is common when a partner slips through the cracks.
Gonorrhea
Gonorrhea is the other infection EPT covers. Like chlamydia, it can be symptom-free, especially in the throat or rectum, so partners frequently don't realize they need treatment. Gonorrhea bacteria have grown resistant to several older drugs over time, so the preferred treatment is an injection, and an injection is harder to hand off than a pill. Your clinician may handle a gonorrhea partner differently than a chlamydia partner, and in some places EPT for gonorrhea is treated separately under the law from EPT for chlamydia.
How EPT works, step by step
The mechanics are simpler than people expect, and most of it happens during the visit where you're already being treated:
- You're diagnosed with chlamydia or gonorrhea and you tell your clinician you have a partner (or partners) who may be infected.
- Your clinician decides EPT is appropriate and legal where you are, then either writes a prescription in your partner's name or dispenses the medication directly to you.
- Usually you also get written information for your partner: what the medicine treats, how to take it, possible side effects, and a strong recommendation that they still get their own exam and testing if they can.
- You give the medicine (or prescription) and the information to your partner, and they take it.
- Both of you avoid sex until treatment is complete and any waiting period your clinician specifies has passed, so you don't simply reinfect each other before the medicine has worked.
Your partner gets treated without needing their own appointment, which is often the difference between them being treated and not being treated at all. If you're not sure whether it's an option for you, ask your clinician or your pharmacist directly. It's legal in most states and one of the more reliable ways to keep an untreated partner from handing the infection right back to you.
Who EPT is for
EPT is for people diagnosed with chlamydia or gonorrhea who have one or more recent sex partners unlikely or unable to get treated on their own, whether because of work, cost, lack of a regular clinician, or simply not having symptoms. It's especially aimed at the male partners of women with these infections, the group CDC singles out as hardest to bring in for care. On the public-health side, it's part of why some experts are interested in how ept programs could stem the rise of std cases: every partner who gets treated is one fewer source of new and repeat infections.
Limits and cautions
EPT isn't a catch-all, and a few limits matter:
- It applies to chlamydia and gonorrhea, not to syphilis, HIV, herpes, or other STIs, which need the partner's own evaluation and a different treatment approach.
- Its legal status varies by state, and that includes which infection it can be used for, so what's permitted in one place may not be in another. The CDC tracks this state by state CDC EPT legal status.
- Your partner is being treated without an exam, so anything beyond the targeted infection can be missed: allergies, a different or co-occurring STI, pregnancy considerations, or symptoms suggesting a more serious infection. The written information that comes with EPT exists partly to flag this.
- EPT doesn't replace your partner's own testing. The ideal is still that they get their own visit; EPT is the backup for when that realistically won't happen.
One common mistake is resuming sex too soon. If both partners aren't fully treated, or you don't wait the period your clinician advises, you can reinfect each other and undo the whole effort.
When to see a clinician
Your partner should see a clinician in person, rather than relying on EPT alone, if they have symptoms like pelvic or testicular pain, fever, sores, or unusual discharge; if they may be pregnant; if they have a drug allergy; or if they think they could have been exposed to more than chlamydia or gonorrhea. EPT also doesn't substitute for getting tested yourself when you've had a possible exposure. If you haven't been diagnosed yet but think you've been exposed, get tested first, and understand when to test after exposure, since testing too early can miss an infection. Bring up EPT at that visit if you test positive and have partners who may struggle to get care.