You Can Order a Dozen STD Tests Online — But Should You?
America is losing the battle against sexually transmitted infections. Cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis all hit record-high numbers in 2015. Tens of thousands contract HIV every year in the U.S., and oral cancers caused by human papillomavirus are increasing.
So startups are popping up online to help serve what they see as unmet demand for STD testing. One advertises that you can "get a sexy deal" by ordering.
The question is whether those companies can survive — at least one left the market before its product even launched — and whether the services they offer get the right tests to the right people.
Although encouraging people to get tested is a simple enough public health message, that doesn't mean it's simple to carry out, says Kevin Ault, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.
"You have to make the appointment at the doctor's office, drive to the doctor's office, give the sample to the doctor, the doctor sends it to the lab, you wait for the results to come back, and then you wait for the doctor to call you," Ault says. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that people in some at-risk groups do all that several times a year.
"The biggest advantage of home tests in general is if you catch HIV or chlamydia early on, you can change the natural course of the disease," Ault says.
Few options exist to make the process easier. So far, there is approved that gives rapid results in the home, and it's
