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A bad sore throat with deep fatigue and swollen neck glands is most often infectious mononucleosis (mono) from Epstein-Barr virus, but the same picture can be acute HIV, pharyngeal gonorrhea, or secon
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683 articles across eight categories — from symptom guides to the latest research.
Symptom guides
Worried about a specific symptom? Start with the sign you're noticing — each guide covers the STIs behind it, how to test, and what to do next.
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A new genital rash usually isn't herpes or any STD — contact dermatitis from latex condoms, soap, lube, or laundry detergent is a far more common cause. Contact dermatitis is an itchy, red, often symm
Patchy discolored spots on your chest, back, or trunk are far more likely to be tinea versicolor — a harmless skin yeast — than an STI. Tinea versicolor isn't sexually transmitted and won't involve yo
A 4th-generation HIV test (an antigen/antibody lab test) and a rapid antibody test both look for HIV, but they detect it at different points. The 4th-gen test catches the p24 antigen — a viral protein
Anal warts and hemorrhoids both show up as bumps near the anus, but they're entirely different problems. Anal warts are caused by HPV, a sexually transmitted virus, and usually feel like small, firm,
To ask your doctor for an STD test, be direct: say you'd like to be screened, name any exposures or symptoms, and ask specifically which infections the panel covers. A clear request like "I'd like a f
At-home STI test kits let college students collect their own urine, swab, or finger-prick blood sample privately in a dorm or apartment, mail it to a lab, and view results online — no clinic visit and
No, a single blood test can't detect all STDs. Blood draws find infections that circulate in the bloodstream — HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis — but chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis are caught fr
Chancroid and syphilis both cause genital ulcers, but the classic fork is pain: a chancroid ulcer is a soft, painful sore with tender, pus-filled groin nodes, while the primary syphilis chancre is a p
Chlamydia and Mycoplasma genitalium are both bacteria that infect the urethra and cervix and cause overlapping symptoms — discharge, burning, and pelvic pain — but they're different organisms with dif
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