UTI or STI? Burning when you pee

Why they’re easy to mix up

Pain, stinging or burning when you pee is the classic sign of a UTI. It’s also how an STI in the urethra, the tube you pee through, often shows up. Antibiotics for a UTI don’t always treat an STI, so guessing wrong can leave an infection untreated.

Signs that point to a UTI

A UTI happens when bacteria get into the urinary tract, usually the bladder. They’re much more common in women, and sex is one of the things that makes them more likely. A UTI usually brings:

• pain, stinging or burning when you pee
• needing to pee often, or urgently
• cloudy or smelly urine, sometimes with blood in it
• discomfort low in the belly.

A UTI isn’t an STI, and it doesn’t pass to a partner, even though sex can trigger one.

Signs that point to an STI

These are more likely to mean an STI than a UTI:

• discharge from the penis, or a change in vaginal discharge
• pain or swelling in the testicles
• bleeding after sex or between periods, or pain during sex
• sores, blisters or lumps on the genitals
• a new partner, or a partner who has told you they have an STI.

In people with a penis, burning and discharge from the urethra are called urethritis. The guidelines recommend testing everyone with it for chlamydia, gonorrhoea and Mycoplasma genitalium, though up to half of cases have no cause found. In people with a vagina, a change in discharge can come from thrush, bacterial vaginosis, trichomonas, chlamydia or gonorrhoea.

You can’t tell by symptoms alone

The two overlap too much, and you can have both at once. A doctor will usually test your urine for a UTI and test for STIs at the same visit: a urine sample or swab tested by PCR for chlamydia and gonorrhoea, and sometimes a swab of any discharge.

If you’ve been treated for a UTI and the burning hasn’t gone, or it keeps coming back, ask about STI testing.

What to do

See someone in person at a GP clinic (opens in new tab), sexual health clinic (opens in new tab) or urgent care clinic (opens in new tab). They can examine you, test for both and start treatment straight away. At-home testing is for people without symptoms, so it isn’t the right path while it burns.

Avoid sex until you’ve been checked. If you’ve never had symptoms and want routine testing, see how often to get STI testing.

How at-home testing works with Prickly

Prickly is an Australian at-home STI testing service for people without symptoms. Once your symptoms have been checked and treated, it’s an easy way to keep up routine testing.

• Request online. Complete a five-minute online request, or book a short call with a doctor – bulk billed with Medicare. Either way, a doctor confirms that at-home STI testing is suitable for you.
• Receive your equipment. Collection equipment tailored to your exposures ships the same or next business day in an unmarked mailer box with Australia Post tracking.
• Collect at home. Follow the included STI testing self-collection guide – swabs and urine for the lab, and, if you’ve added HIV testing, a fingerprick HIV self-test you read at home in 15 minutes.
• Post to the lab. Post your lab samples back the same day using the included prepaid return label – at any Australia Post Office, red street posting box or Parcel Locker.
• Get your results. A doctor reviews every lab test result and emails you privately. Telehealth follow-up included – with help accessing treatment and telling partners, if needed.

The same steps are on the home page under How it works, and fees are under Pricing.

When at-home testing isn’t right

See someone in person at a sexual health clinic (opens in new tab), GP clinic (opens in new tab) or urgent care clinic (opens in new tab) instead if you have symptoms or if you’re under 16. And if you may have been exposed to HIV in the last 72 hours, don’t wait for a test – visit www.getpep.info (opens in new tab) or go to a sexual health clinic (opens in new tab) or emergency department (opens in new tab) as soon as you can. If something happened without your consent, 1800RESPECT (opens in new tab) is also available 24/7 for free, confidential support.