Free STD Testing in North Little Rock, AR

Be sure to get reliable information about STDs, tested, and treated if needed. Put your health first. You can do this near your location. You can prevent STDs. Use condoms to prevent STDs. Know your status and the status of your partner. A place to start could be the Arkansas Department of Health, Planned Parenthood, or a local school where you could talk to a counsellor or nurse about testing options.

One of the largest public employers in the state is the the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and its healthcare partners that include the Arkansas Children’s Hospital located near the city. That is one facility that could help you.

Getting tested for an STD is important to your health. Remember that you can prevent STDs. Talk to a healthcare provider about getting tested. Make sure your partner is tested before having sex. Always use a condom to prevent STDs.

A center for information about STDs is the part of the Arkansas Department of Health that deals with the subject of STDs. Call the office to talk about getting tested. Be honest. This will help you with your health and knowing what should be your next step.

Remember that anyone can be affected. In your area this includes the roughly 50 percent of the population that is white and roughly 50 percent that includes blacks or African Americans, American Indians, Hispanics, and Asian Americans. These groups all make up your city.

Statistics show an STD rate of about 1000 per 100,000 people in Pulaski County where your city is located. STD cases number at about 4500. The overall population of the county is just under 400,000.

In your area you can find reliable information about sexual health,  plus get tested. You can go to an area hospital or call Planned Parenthood. You could also go to a nurse or counsellor at an area middle school or high school. A counsellor or nurse at one of these schools can help you as they are used to helping people in your situation, wanting to get information or testing.

The Little Rock Health Center offers the following services related to the testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Testing and treatment includes: bacterial vaginosis (BV), Chlamydia, genital warts, gonorrhea, herpes, HIV (testing and diagnosis only), syphilis and trichomoniasis (trich). The center also provides information on STD prevention. The staff is friendly and can provide you with information and condoms, plus HPV vaccines (Gardisil).

You can get a test for gonorrhea and chlamydia using a urine sample. If this test shows an infection, then you can get treatment for yourself. You should also get treatment for your partner. Do not urinate or engage in sexual intercourse for one hour before testing. Some STD tests can involve a genital exam. You use a blood draw for HIV testing. Counseling and services are confidential so is release of results of tests.

If you are 19 to 26 with no health insurance, you could get help.

Remember that testing services include Chlamydia Testing, Conventional Oral HIV Testing, Gonorrhea Testing, Herpes Testing, Rapid Oral HIV Testing, Syphilis Testing, and TB Testing. A clinic can serve adolescents, youth, teens, adults, at risk people, the general public, HIV position persons, low income persons, persons practicing high risk behaviors, persons with HIV/AIDS, and persons with STDs.

Your area has several resources that can help.

Unfortunately, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that despite increased awareness and education, the rate of STDs in America is slowly rising. Arkansas unfortunately is among the worst 10 states for cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis in proportion to population. Arkansas is the seventh worst state for cases for chlamydia and gonorrhea and the ninth worst for syphilis.

People can be confused about the difference between STDs and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). STDs and STIs are each transmitted sexually but STIs are infections that are not a disease. For example, HPV is an STI. In can result in genital warts as an STD. The most common STDs are chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis. You can treat each with medication.

The area has a high rate of chlamydia which is the most commonly reported STD in the U.S. It can go untreated because there can be no symptoms. If untreated in a female, the infection can lead to damage to the reproductive system and infertility. Women under the age of 25 should be tested every year for chlamydia. Some people have an abnormal discharge and burning when urinating. This is true for males and females. Chlamydia is over four times more common than gonorrhea.

Gonorrhea can also show no symptoms. You may not know you have it. A possible symptom could be burning when urinating and abnormal discharge in females and males. Syphilis is less common. If untreated damage can be permanent. In a couple of decades with the infection, you could have blindness, paralysis, and dementia. A possible early warning sign could be a painless sore on the genitals.

Remember that an STD can affect anyone. You can be rich, poor, educated, urban, and rural. You should know that the person you are having sex with does not have an STD. Use protection against infection. Use a condom. Get tested. It does not matter if you are a girl or a guy. STDs can result in lifetime damage. This can include bone deformities, mental retardation, and death of infants with a mother who is infected. For a woman an STD can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), infertility, potentially fatal ectopic pregnancies, and cancer of the reproductive tract.

Let’s look now at how STI testing resources can be available for you in your city. There are several resources available. You might wonder what you can expect during a visit to a clinic that treats STDs and STIs. You might be asked to fill out forms so a counsellor or doctor can help you better. The medical staff will know more about what would be the next thing you should do once they see your paperwork.

After you fill out paperwork someone will see you and talk about the best options for you. You should be honest when you talk to a health care provider. They can best help you then. Put your health first. During an exam you could provide specimens such as a urine sample or blood work. These will be sent to a lab. Only you will get the results so it remains confidential. If you test positive and have an infection, you will get medicine to treat the condition.

Remember that you can get tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia using a urine sample. If this test shows an infection, you can get treatment. You can also get treatment for your partner. Do not urinate or engage in sexual intercourse one hour before testing. You may also need a genital exam or blood test. You can get a blood sample with a finger stick. The results can come back within an hour for some tests and a week for others, such as for HIV testing.

Many people do not know the risks of STDs. The most prominent STD is HIV which is a virus that causes AIDS. Other STDs can have no symptoms especially in women. The symptoms could also develop with time and the person might not know the symptoms are from an STD. They could have an STD that leads to bone deformities, mental retardation, and death for an infant with an infected mother.

If you are 15 to 24 years old, you account for about half of new STD cases each year. The Center for Disease Control reports that blacks make up about 12 percent of the population in the United States and account for 70 percent of cases of gonorrhea. Blacks account for about half of the cases of chlamydia and syphilis.

Remember that STDs affect all backgrounds and economic level. They can more often affect women and unfortunately infants of an infected mother. Young and minority women are hit hard by chlamydia. Black women get it eight times more than white women.

Get tested and if needed get treated. Use condoms to prevent getting an STD.

We have looked now at what resources are available in your area so you can learn more about STDs, get tested, and get treatment if needed. We looked at clinics, a public health department, schools, and planned parenthood services.

These are all resources that you could use. They can help you with testing, education, and overall good sexual health and well being. Remember to put your health first. Get tested. You may not feel anything with some STI diseases that infect you as with chlamydia. The symptoms do not occur right after you get infected. You should find out for sure if you have the infection and get it treated.

If you do not treat an STD, your health will suffer. Get tested and if needed get treated. Use a condom to prevent an STD. Know your partner. You will be happy that you did.

Here are links for the helpful resources on STDs as we discussed above.

http://www.healthy.arkansas.gov/programsServices/infectiousDisease/hivStdHepatitisC/Pages/STDs.aspx

https://www.nlrsd.org