STD Essentials

Two blood assays. A fourth-generation HIV test detects antibodies to HIV types 1 and 2 along with the p24 antigen, and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) shows whether a hepatitis B infection is active. Both run from a single sample, with no fasting and no swab.

They share a route and a habit. Both pass through blood and sexual contact, and both can persist for years without a single symptom, so neither is reliably found by waiting to feel unwell. Finding either early changes the treatment path, and with hepatitis B it also lets partners and household members be vaccinated.

It looks for two things at once. Earlier tests waited for antibodies alone; the fourth-generation assay adds the p24 antigen, a viral protein that appears sooner in an infection. That combination is why it is the standard screening format rather than an antibody-only test.

HBsAg is the first marker to appear in a hepatitis B infection, so a positive result points to the virus being present now rather than in the past. It is confirmed and followed by further liver and viral tests before anything is decided. If yours is negative and you have never been vaccinated, ask your doctor about the hepatitis B vaccine.

No, and deliberately so. The STD Basic Screening adds hepatitis C antibodies and an RPR syphilis screen to the same blood draw, while chlamydia and gonorrhoea live in the genital tract and need a urine PCR panel such as the STD Core Screening (STD-7).

Testing now gives you a dated baseline, which is useful in itself. But a very recent exposure may not show yet, because both markers need time to become detectable, so your doctor may advise repeating the screen and will say what interval suits your situation.

Nothing is concluded from a screening result on its own. A reactive HIV or HBsAg result is confirmed by a second, different method before it means anything. Our team contacts you with the next steps for that confirmatory testing, and a physician explains what the follow-up test is looking for.

Yes. You book it yourself, the sample is collected discreetly at an address you choose, and an HIV or hepatitis B result is released to you through your secure account rather than to an employer or a relative. Any confirmatory follow-up stays between you and our physician team. Our STD testing in Dubai page walks through the process.

No fasting and no preparation at all: neither serology result shifts with a meal, so eat normally and keep taking your usual medicines. The sample goes straight to our EIAC-accredited laboratory, and the physician-reviewed Smart Report reaches you within 24 hours of collection.

AED 199 covers both assays and free home sample collection anywhere in Dubai, seven days a week, by a DHA-licensed phlebotomist. Evening slots are available if a daytime visit would be awkward, and you can come to the laboratory instead at no extra cost.