Why Urgent Care Is a Good Option for STI Treatment

If you suspect you have a sexually transmitted infection (STI), waiting for treatment isn’t an attractive option.

Delaying care for certain STIs can have serious lifelong consequences — including impaired sexual health, infertility, chronic pain, and neurological damage. If you don’t have a primary care provider (PCP) or no appointments are available, you can go to an urgent care location.

Vania Landers, DO, an emergency medicine doctor at Mass General Brigham Urgent Care, says urgent care can be the perfect option for timely STI treatment.

“Most urgent care centers have availability for walk-in visits for same-day care,” Dr. Landers says. “We take the time to listen to a patient’s concern and make sure they know that they are heard and not dismissed.”  

STIs on the rise

The number of some STIs in the United States has exploded. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2022 STI Surveillance Report:

• Syphilis cases increased nearly 79% between 2018 and 2022. 
• Gonorrhea cases jumped 11.1% over that same time frame. 
• More than 2.5 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis were diagnosed in the United States in 2022, up 2% from 2018.  

The situation is even more serious outside the United States. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 1 million STIs are acquired every day around the world.

• In 2020, there were an estimated 374 million new infections in people 15 to 49 years old with curable STIs — chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and trichomoniasis. 
• An estimated 8 million adults in that same age range were infected with syphilis as of 2022. 
• More than 500 million people 15 to 49 years old were estimated to have the herpes simplex virus.
  

The urgent care advantage for STI treatment

Beyond the shorter wait time to be seen, urgent care provides other conveniences for those concerned about STIs. Most urgent care centers offer early and late hours, including nights and weekends. They also typically have shorter waiting room times than another common treatment option — the emergency room. 

"If you seek medical attention for an STI at an emergency room, you’ll likely have an extended wait time as they evaluate medical emergencies first," Dr. Landers says. "Urgent care wait times tend to be better for these types of concerns."

Another helpful option is Mass General Brigham Virtual Urgent Care. It’s open to all patients ages 3 and up, even if they haven’t seen a Mass General Brigham provider before. Both new and current patients can schedule a virtual urgent care visit for that day or the next day on Mass General Brigham Patient Gateway.

“Virtual urgent care is a great option for patients who have a known exposure to an STI and are experiencing minimal or no symptoms,” Dr. Landers says. “Virtual urgent care is also a great place to receive advice from the comfort of your home.”

But that doesn’t make it a good option for all cases. Dr. Landers says people should come to a physical urgent care location if they have abdominal or pelvic pain, pain or discomfort when peeing (also called dysuria), discharge, lesions, rash, or fever.

Urgent care — virtual or in-person — is also a good choice for those who believe they have been exposed to an STI but who don’t yet have symptoms. Getting a diagnosis early allows for more prompt communication with the person’s sexual partners and can limit STI spread.

Urgent care doctors typically counsel patients who test positive for an STI on the importance of communicating their condition to their partners.

“I advise my patients to communicate positive results to their partners, as their partners should be evaluated as well,” Dr. Landers says. "However, it is their choice to do so as results are confidential."

Some STIs, like gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis, are reportable conditions. This means the lab that provides your test results automatically alerts the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. An employee with the Department of Public Health’s Partner Services Program may contact you. They can help you notify partners who may have been exposed to an STI. They also can help connect partners to testing and medical care.

What to expect at urgent care for STIs

An urgent care visit is similar to a primary care visit. You provide your health history and insurance information, then are seen by a medical assistant who takes your vitals and discusses your concerns. After that, you’re seen by an advanced care provider or physician for an examination. 

The provider might order tests that include blood screenings, urinalysis, or swabs. Results for many tests return within one or two days, Dr. Landers says. 

Rapid STI test

Mass General Brigham Urgent Care now offers rapid testing for some STIs in women and people assigned female at birth (AFAB) at many locations.

After a health care provider takes a swab sample from a patient, they can deliver the results within 30 minutes. This means patients can learn their status before they leave the clinic, and treatment can begin immediately.

Rapid testing is available for the following STIs:

• Chlamydia
• Gonorrhea
• Trichomoniasis

STI treatment

Most of the STI cases Dr. Landers sees are treatable with antibiotics. Some, such as herpes, are lifelong conditions but can be controlled with antiviral medications. Urgent care centers also offer follow-up testing to ensure curable STIs have, in fact, been cured.

“There’s tremendous peace of mind for someone to know that the condition has been cured,” Dr. Landers says. “We like to provide that peace of mind.”

STI prevention

Urgent care also includes information about STI prevention — everything from abstinence education to the proper use of condoms and vaccines.

You can ask your provider about things like doxy PEP (doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis). An antibiotic called doxycycline can help reduce the risk of getting certain bacterial infections after potential exposure. It's primarily used in situations where a person may have been exposed to STIs, like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis.

Currently, vaccines exist only for HPV and hepatitis A and B. Only a few urgent care centers offer them, Dr. Landers says, so patients should see their primary care providers.

Don’t delay STI care

The most important thing for those who suspect they have an STI is to seek treatment somewhere, Dr. Landers says — whether that’s an urgent care, emergency room, clinic, or primary care physician.

“There’s always some reluctance for people to seek care about some of these types of complaints,” Dr. Landers says. “They might not feel the most comfortable speaking about them, and it’s our job to make them feel comfortable so they can share openly.”