Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) spread from person to person during sex (vaginal, oral, or anal). Some STDs (also called sexually transmitted infections, or STIs) are caused by bacteria (a type of germ). It's important to start treating those with antibiotics right away to help prevent long-lasting problems. If your teen is waiting for test results, the results should be back in a few days.

Treatment:

• If the health care provider prescribed antibiotics, make sure that your teen takes them exactly as recommended and for as long as directed. Even if there are no more signs of the STD, stopping antibiotics early means the STD could come back.
• Your teen needs to tell all sexual partners from the past 2 months to get treatment too, even if they don't have signs of an STD. Sometimes a health care provider can prescribe medicine for a teen's partners too.
• Your teen should not have sex until:
  • treatment is finished and there are no more signs of an STD. This is usually at least 1 week after treatment starts.
  • partners have been treated and have no symptoms

Follow-up:

• Take your teen for follow-up STD testing as recommended by the health care provider.
• Be sure your teen gets all doses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine (shot). HPV is an STD that can lead to some kinds of cancer and genital warts.

Your teen:

• is not taking the antibiotics the health care provider prescribed
• is not getting better after a few days 
• gets better, but then notices signs of an STD (like abnormal discharge, belly pain, pain with sex, or pain when peeing)

• Your daughter develops severe belly pain or has a lot of bleeding from her vagina.
• Your son develops swelling or pain in his testicles.

What are the signs of an STD? Signs of an STD can include discharge from the vagina or penis, genital sores, pain in the lower belly, pain with sex, or burning or pain when peeing. But someone can have an STD without any signs.

How are STDs diagnosed? To find out if someone has an STD and which germ is causing it, health providers might do tests on:

• fluid or discharge from the vagina or cervix in females or the urethra in males
• fluid from sores
• urine (pee)
• blood

How are STDs treated? It depends on which germ caused the infection. Antibiotics can treat STDs caused by bacteria (such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, or syphilis). But antibiotics won't work for STDs caused by a virus.

What happens if an STD is not treated? An STD that's not treated can:

• cause ongoing pain
• lead to trouble getting pregnant and/or problems with pregnancy
• spread to others through sex

Even if people with STDs have no signs, they still need treatment to avoid these problems.

How can my teen avoid getting another STD? The best way to avoid an STD is not to have sex (vaginal, oral, or anal). Teens who do have sex should:

• Use a condom every time they have sex (vaginal, oral, or anal).
• Have only one partner who has already been tested and does not have an STD. That partner should not have sex with other people.