Most STIs are completely curable with the right medication, and even the ones that aren’t curable can be managed effectively. The treatment depends entirely on what type of infection you have: bacterial, parasitic, or viral. Bacterial STIs like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis are cleared with antibiotics. Parasitic infections like trichomoniasis, pubic lice, and scabies are eliminated with antiparasitic medications or topical treatments. Viral STIs like herpes, HIV, and HPV can’t be cured, but antiviral medications control symptoms and reduce transmission.
Bacterial STIs: Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and Syphilis
These are the most straightforward STIs to treat because antibiotics eliminate the bacteria entirely. Chlamydia is treated with a week-long course of an oral antibiotic taken twice daily. Gonorrhea requires a single injection, typically given at a clinic or doctor’s office. If you test positive for gonorrhea and chlamydia hasn’t been ruled out, you’ll likely be treated for both at the same time, since co-infection is common.
Syphilis treatment depends on how long you’ve had the infection. Early-stage syphilis (primary, secondary, or early latent) is cured with a single injection of penicillin. If the infection has been present longer, you’ll need three injections spaced one week apart. More advanced syphilis that has affected the nervous system, eyes, or ears requires intravenous treatment over 10 to 14 days.
One important note about gonorrhea: drug resistance has become a growing concern. The current recommended treatment is a specific injectable antibiotic that still works well, but older oral antibiotics that used to be effective no longer are. This is why gonorrhea can’t be treated with a simple pill the way chlamydia can, and why it’s important to get the right medication rather than trying leftover antibiotics.
Parasitic STIs: Pubic Lice and Scabies
Pubic lice are treated with a permethrin cream rinse that you apply to the affected area and wash off after 10 minutes. It’s an over-the-counter treatment you can buy at most pharmacies. If lice have reached your eyelashes, petroleum jelly applied to the eyelid margins twice a day for 10 days suffocates them safely.
Scabies requires a stronger permethrin cream (5%) applied to the entire body from the neck down and left on for 8 to 14 hours before washing off. An oral antiparasitic pill is an alternative, though it needs a second dose two weeks later because it doesn’t kill the eggs on the first round.
For both pubic lice and scabies, treating your environment matters as much as treating your body. Machine wash and dry all bedding and clothing on a hot cycle, or dry clean them. Anything that can’t be washed should be sealed away from body contact for at least 72 hours, which is long enough for the parasites to die without a host.
Viral STIs: Herpes, HIV, and HPV
Viral STIs work differently. The virus integrates into your cells in a way that current medications can’t fully eradicate. That doesn’t mean treatment is ineffective. It means the goal shifts from cure to control.
Genital herpes is a lifelong infection, but antiviral medications reduce the severity and frequency of outbreaks. Three FDA-approved antivirals are available, and they can be taken either during active outbreaks to shorten them or daily as suppressive therapy to prevent outbreaks from happening in the first place. These medications partially control symptoms but don’t eliminate the dormant virus, so outbreaks can return if you stop taking them.
HPV, the virus that causes genital warts and can lead to certain cancers, often clears on its own. Your immune system eliminates most HPV infections within one to two years. Genital warts caused by HPV can be treated and removed, but the underlying virus resolves on its own timeline. HIV is managed with daily antiviral therapy that can reduce the virus to undetectable levels, effectively preventing transmission and allowing a normal lifespan.
How Long Until You’re in the Clear
After treatment for chlamydia or gonorrhea, you need to avoid sex for seven days. If you received a single-dose treatment, the seven-day count starts from the day you took the medication. For a seven-day course, you should wait at least 24 hours after finishing the last dose. Your sex partner also needs to complete treatment and observe the same waiting period, or reinfection is likely.
Getting retested after treatment confirms the infection is actually gone. For chlamydia and gonorrhea, the recommendation is to retest about three months after treatment. If you’re pregnant, the timeline is tighter: a test of cure four weeks after treatment for chlamydia, plus retesting within three months. Retesting matters because reinfection rates are high, often because a partner wasn’t treated.
Making Sure Your Partner Gets Treated
This is one of the most critical steps people skip. If you’re treated but your partner isn’t, you’ll likely get reinfected the next time you have sex. In many states, your doctor can provide what’s called expedited partner therapy, which means giving you extra medication or a prescription to deliver directly to your partner. Your partner doesn’t need their own appointment. This approach exists specifically because the logistical barriers of getting a separate person to a clinic are one of the biggest reasons reinfection happens.
Not every state allows expedited partner therapy, and it’s primarily used for chlamydia and gonorrhea. For other STIs, your partner will need their own evaluation. Either way, having the conversation with your partner is essential. Without it, treatment becomes a revolving door.
Screening If You Don’t Have Symptoms
Many STIs, especially chlamydia and gonorrhea, produce no symptoms at all. You can carry and transmit an infection without knowing it, which is why routine screening matters even when you feel fine.
The CDC recommends that all sexually active women under 25 get tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea every year. Women 25 and older should also test annually if they have new partners, multiple partners, or a partner with an STI. Men who have sex with men should be tested for syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea at least once a year, with more frequent testing (every 3 to 6 months) for those with multiple or anonymous partners. Everyone between ages 13 and 64 should be tested for HIV at least once in their lifetime.
Vaccines That Prevent STIs
Two STIs are preventable through vaccination. The HPV vaccine is recommended through age 26, and adults between 27 and 45 can still receive it after discussing the benefits with their provider. It requires two or three doses depending on your age at the first shot. The hepatitis B vaccine is also widely recommended for adults and requires two to four doses depending on the specific vaccine used. Both are far more effective when given before exposure to the virus, but they still offer protection after you’ve become sexually active.