Why Women Should Screen for Sexually Transmitted Infections

Despite awareness efforts, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are still being spread in fairly high numbers in the United States. In 2024, more than 2.2 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis were reported, and this final tally might be on the low side thanks to underreporting.

While everyone who’s sexually active should monitor for STIs, women can develop more complications, especially when it comes to their reproductive health. This means it’s important for women to be more vigilant about screening regularly for STIs.

Because April is STI Awareness Month in the US, the experienced team of women’s health providers at Bayard Street Obstetrics & Gynecology are sharing some good rules of thumb for staying one step ahead of sexually transmitted infections.

Why some STIs affect women differently

There are several reasons why STIs hit harder among women. To start, it’s important to understand that you can have an STI with no symptoms, which is why we’ve moved from saying sexually transmitted disease (STD) to sexually transmitted infections — disease occurs only when symptoms arise. 

If a woman has an infection, regardless of whether she develops symptoms, and she doesn’t get treated, it can still lead to pelvic inflammatory disease. This is especially true with gonorrhea and chlamydia infections. Playing this out further, pelvic inflammatory disease can lead to pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy, and infertility.

Taking a step back, another reason why a woman should test for STIs, even if she doesn’t have symptoms, is to prevent unknowingly spreading the infection to others.

As well, women can pass on certain STIs — such as syphilis, HIV, hepatitis B, and genital herpes — to their children. This can happen during pregnancy, childbirth, and even through breastfeeding.

STI screening guidelines for women

Now that you better understand why you should screen for STIs, let’s look at current guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for sexually active women:

• Testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea annually under age 25
• Testing annually for chlamydia and gonorrhea after age 25 if you have a new partner, multiple partners, or an infected partner
• Testing at least once for HIV
• Testing for syphilis, HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, gonorrhea, and chlamydia during early pregnancy

These are general guidelines, and our team can provide a more personalized STI screening schedule based on your lifestyle, medical history, and risk factors. We can conduct this simple testing during your well woman exam.

We also want to underscore an important point: STIs can be transferred through oral and anal sex, too. Even if you’re not having vaginal intercourse, you might still be at risk.

To determine which STI testing is best for you, contact Bayard Street Obstetrics & Gynecology to schedule an appointment at one of our offices in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, Flushing, Queens, or Syosset, New York. Call our appointment line at 212-226-5530, or use our convenient online booking.