Other STD services: Early STD Screening, Rapid Hepatitis B Blood Test, Swab for Gonorrhea and many more... contact us to make an appointment now!
When and How to test for Syphilis
Phew. Finally found the time to sit down and pen this long awaited entry. I have been getting questions about Syphilis testing and would like to set the record straight. First of all a few basic facts. Syphilis is a bacteria. It is transmitted via direct skin contact with contagious Syphilitic lesions. What are considered contagious Syphilitic lesions you say? Well, they are ulcers caused by Syphilis (known as a Chancres) and the skin rash that occurs in secondary Syphilis. The ulcers are generally single and painless (except in HIV positive...
read moreVideo of Positive Oraquick Advance HIV 1/2 Test
This is a video of the Oraquick Advance HIV 1/2 Test showing a positive result. Note that the positive test line takes a little longer to appear compared to the Alere Determine HIV 1/2 Test. However, by 6 minutes, the results is unmistakable. To view the video, click on the link below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY1ast9Wyis&feature=youtu.be At the end of 20 minutes, the test looked like this: About Dr. TanDr. Tan graduated from the National University of Singapore...
read moreVideo of Alere Determine HIV test – Positive Test
Most people whom I test for HIV are fortunately negative. However, I get frequently asked what a positive test looks like. This is the reason I uploaded this video. It shows the Alere Determine HIV test in action detecting the presence of HIV antibodies in blood. From the timeline, it also illustrates how fast the Determine test is. Although we always wait for the official 20 minutes for the test to complete, from this video you can see that by 1 minute into the test, we can easily tell if a person is positive for HIV. 9 seconds –...
read moreWhen to test for HIV during and after completion of PEP
I get this question a lot. First of all, data on this is lacking and very hard to come by. There are many theories that hypothesize that PEP reduces viral replication and delays sero-conversion and therefore make HIV testing less accurate. These theories have neither been proven nor debunked. Furthermore, there is very limited data on the use of P24 antigen tests (including Combo/Duo tests) and viral load testing for diagnostic purposes in patient who have or undergoing PEP. In fact, studies on monkeys (and more limited studies on...
read moreHow effective are Condoms, Diaphragms and Circumcision in preventing HIV transmission?
Condoms 87% effective in preventing HIV. Scientific studies have shown that proper use of the condom can provide anything from 60% to 95% reduction in risk of HIV transmission. The most often quoted study involved more than 3000 HIV 1 sero-discordant couples. Self reported use of the condom reduced the risk of HIV transmission by 78% per sex act. The US CDC’s condom report published in the year 2000 estimated that consistent condom use reduced the risk of HIV transmission by 85%. Diaphragms and Female Condoms No evidence that...
read moreOur Chief Medical Officer
