The syphilis rate is climbing. Now, you can test for it at home.
There’s a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that’s more common than you may think: syphilis.
Per the WHO, around 8 million adults came down with syphilis in 2022. And in the U.S., the syphilis rate is markedly rising.
This disease is treatable—but diagnosis amid varied symptoms and STI stigma can be challenging.
The story: The FDA greenlit NowDiagnostics’ at-home syphilis test. It’s a one-drop blood test and the first at-home diagnostic for this disease.
How it works:
- It’s a rapid test that claims to deliver results in 15 minutes.
- The test detects antibodies in the user’s blood, which can indicate current or past infection. For this reason, the test can’t be used for a definitive diagnosis on its own, but rather as a first screening step.
- Importantly, the test can be bought over the counter—no prescriptions needed. Given the stigma tied to STIs like syphilis, this discrete approach to screening may help more people get checked.
Why syphilis testing matters: Syphilis can be really hard to diagnose. The disease’s symptoms are anything but clear-cut.
- Syphilis is often called “The Great Imitator” due to how its clinical presentation can be mistaken for a host of other conditions. The disease progresses through several stages, all of which have different sets of common symptoms.
- Most infections are asymptomatic and undiagnosed—which helps further propagate infection. Plus, when left untreated, the disease can cause serious health issues like brain damage, blindness, and even death in its latest stage.
- At the same time, syphilis is preventable and curable. And increasing the uptake of testing is likely to help identify—and cure—more cases.
STI testing upgrades: This is the latest installment in a march of progress for STI testing that we’re excited to see.
- Last fall, the FDA also cleared an at-home test for chlamydia and gonorrhea from LetsGetChecked. This was the first at-home test cleared for these STIs.
- Some of the more creative entries in this growing field include Daye’s tampon-based approach to female STI screening, which we covered last year.
- Of course, some of the latest STI screening innovations have found outrage rather than uptake. We’re of course referring to the image-based STI screening app from HeHealth.
- At-home STI testing is also expanding in Europe, with providers like Remi, Cerascreen, HOMED-IQ and vivatura offering discreet, easy-to-use kits for various sexually transmitted infections.