When Can You Have Sex Again After STI Treatment?

Short answer: After treatment for chlamydia or gonorrhea, CDC advises avoiding sex for 7 days after a single-dose treatment, or until you've finished a 7-day course and any symptoms are gone, and until your recent partners have been treated too (CDC). For trichomoniasis, the guidance is to wait until both you and your partners have completed treatment and symptoms have resolved.

That "and your partners" part is the piece people tend to skip. It's also the reason a lot of people end up testing positive again a few months later. This guide covers when to resume sex. If you're wondering when to test again, that's a separate question, covered in our guide to retesting after STI treatment.

Waiting periods at a glance

This table sums up CDC's general guidance for adults who aren't pregnant. Your clinician may give you different instructions based on your regimen, symptoms, or pregnancy, and their instructions come first.

Why there's a wait at all

Antibiotics don't work instantly. A single-dose treatment is a complete course, but it still takes time for the infection to clear. During that window you could still pass the infection to a partner, even if you feel fine. That's why CDC counts the waiting period from the treatment itself and not from when symptoms fade.

The second reason is reinfection. Treatment cures the infection you have. It doesn't protect you from catching it again. If a partner who was the source of the infection hasn't been treated yet, having sex with them can pass it straight back to you. CDC's chlamydia guidance asks people to avoid sex until all of their partners have been treated for exactly this reason (CDC).

Condoms lower the risk of many STIs, but CDC's guidance for this waiting period is to abstain. If you're unsure whether something counts as sex, including oral or anal sex, ask your clinician. Infections can spread through all of these.

Chlamydia and gonorrhea

CDC's guidance for these two infections is close to identical.

• Chlamydia: CDC advises avoiding sex for 7 days after single-dose therapy or until a 7-day regimen is complete and any symptoms are gone. It also advises waiting until all sex partners have been treated (CDC chlamydia guidance).
• Gonorrhea: CDC advises avoiding sex for 7 days after treatment and until all sex partners are treated, with symptoms resolved if you had them (CDC gonorrhea guidance).

Two practical points. First, if your symptoms haven't settled by the end of the week, don't treat day 8 as a green light. Check in with the clinic, because ongoing symptoms can mean a different infection, a missed site, or a treatment problem. Second, if you had gonorrhea in the throat, CDC recommends a test of cure 7 to 14 days after treatment. Our retesting guide explains that timing.

Trichomoniasis

Trichomoniasis is caused by a parasite, not bacteria, and CDC doesn't attach a fixed number of days to it. CDC's guidance is to avoid sex until you and your sex partners have been treated, meaning treatment is finished and symptoms have resolved (CDC trichomoniasis guidance).

Partner treatment matters a lot here. CDC calls treating all sex partners at the same time vital for preventing reinfection, and says current partners should be referred for treatment. Partners are asked to follow the same rule: no sex until everyone has finished treatment and symptoms are gone. A partner who feels fine may still need treatment. Our trichomoniasis testing guide covers how testing works for partners.

Your partners are part of the timeline

Your waiting period effectively ends at whichever comes last: your own 7 days (or the end of your course), or your partner's treatment. If your partner can't get seen until next week, your wait stretches to match theirs.

CDC's chlamydia and gonorrhea guidance says partners from the 60 days before your symptoms or diagnosis should be evaluated, tested and treated. If your last partner was more than 60 days ago, that most recent partner should still be treated.

Getting a partner treated can be the hardest part. A few options can help:

• Tell them directly, or let a service do it. Our guide on how to tell a partner you have an STI includes wording and anonymous options.
• Ask about expedited partner therapy (EPT). In many states, a clinician can give you medicine or a prescription to pass to your partner without examining them first. CDC's guidelines mention EPT as an option for chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomoniasis where state law allows it (CDC EPT legal status).
• If you're the partner who was told, see what to do when a partner tests positive.

Syphilis and herpes are different situations

Syphilis

Syphilis is treated differently, and the stage of infection shapes the treatment plan. CDC's patient page doesn't set one waiting period for everyone, so ask the clinician who treated you when it's OK to have sex again. Two points from CDC matter here. Having syphilis once doesn't protect you from getting it again, and you can be reinfected if your partners aren't tested and treated. And follow-up testing by your provider is needed to confirm treatment worked (CDC syphilis basics). Our syphilis blood test guide explains those follow-up tests.

Genital herpes

Herpes medicine doesn't cure the infection, so there's no single "after treatment" date. CDC's guidance stresses avoiding sex with partners who don't have herpes when sores or the early warning signs of an outbreak are present. It also notes that daily suppressive medicine can lower the risk of passing on HSV-2, and that condoms reduce but don't eliminate the risk (CDC genital herpes guidance). Herpes can also spread when there are no symptoms, so this is a conversation to have with your partner and your clinician.

HIV questions belong with a clinician

HIV isn't on the table above because there's no short waiting period that applies. If you've been diagnosed with HIV, questions about sex belong in a conversation with your HIV care provider. HIV.gov explains that people with HIV who take treatment as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load won't transmit HIV through sex (HIV.gov). Your provider will confirm when your viral load counts as undetectable.

If you're HIV-negative and a partner may have exposed you, time matters more than waiting periods.

A simple plan for the waiting period

1. Write down your treatment date. Note the day you took a single dose, or the day you took the last pill of a course.
2. Count 7 days for chlamydia or gonorrhea, or follow the clinic's instructions for anything else.
3. Confirm your partners' treatment dates. Your restart date is the later of your date and theirs.
4. Check in on symptoms. If anything hasn't cleared, contact the clinic before resuming sex.
5. Set a 3-month reminder. CDC recommends retesting about 3 months after chlamydia or gonorrhea treatment, whether or not partners were treated. It's a reinfection check, and it's easy to forget.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not diagnose, prescribe, or replace individualized medical care. Testing and treatment decisions should be made with a qualified healthcare provider. Some links on this page are affiliate links; we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.