Do the State need to know about my STD????

[vaguy2009]

First of all, thank you so much for the amazing job you are doing here.

About 3 weeks ago I allowed a sex worker to perform unprotected oral sex on me, 24 later I developed a weir burning sensation at the tip of my penis I got so scared and decided to pay my doctor a visit; he told me at I should be tested for Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, he also added that if the results come back positive he will be forced to contact the state and provide them with all my information, at that point the state will try to contact my wife to make sure she is not infected.  Is this true?  I am really scare now, what if I am really sick but I cannot allow this act of stupidity be made public.  Doesn’t HIPAA protect me from this kind of actions?

Thank you.  

[gracefromHHP]

Yes typically those 3 std's are reportable in all states.  If you test + for any of them, they'll send a report with your contact info to your local health department.  They in turn will contact you and ask you for a list of your sexual contacts and then will in turn contact them to let them know that someone that they have had sex with recently has tested + for a std and that they need follow up testing done. Of course this relies on your honesty too as to if they are even given any partners , besides the sex worker, to contact.   They will not say specifically that they have had contact with "vaguy2008" though which is why it's not a hipaa violation. Of course in your case, I think your wife would quickly figure out that it's you if you told them you were married .

Are your std tests likely to come back as + for any of them? They could but the risk is rather low.  Did your provider do any urine testing on you for fungal infections and non-std bacterial infections too? Are you still having symptoms?

Just as a fyi - in the future, wear a condom for oral, especially if you don't want to have to deal with this kind of stress.

grace

[Vance2335]

24 hours is too soon to see symptoms of an STD. As for testing, here are the valid testing times...Gonorrhea-1 week, syphilis-6 weeks, herpes-4 months.
If you do test positive then the State Health Department does get contacted. I am not sure if they contact your wife. But if you had sex with your wife at all then if you are positive for something then she would need to be tested. So you would have to tell her.