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Dr Bani

Dr Bani is a UK-trained doctor, who has written extensively on sexual health topics in publications such as Huffington Post and Cosmopolitan.

Dr Bani

Dr Rashid Bani is the Medical Director for Your Sexual Health. He is a UK-trained doctor who graduated from Guy’s & St Thomas’ Medical School in 1997. Dr Bani is registered with the General Medical Council (GMC No: 4441036) and undergoes yearly appraisals to state up-to-date with new industry developments.

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Testing for STDs in a lab

How Do You Test For Herpes?

How Do You Get Herpes?

chlamydia discharge

What Does Chlamydia Look Like?

Herpes on the mouth

What Does Herpes Look Like?

How To Get an STD Test Over the Festive Season

Telling someone you have an STI

How To Tell Someone You Have an STI

Can Herpes Affect Fertility?

Testing for gonorrhoea

How is Gonorrhoea Tested?

What are the Symptoms Of Gonorrhoea?

What are the Signs of Chlamydia?

Couple in bed together

How Common is Chlamydia?

Can You Get Chlamydia From Oral Sex?

Is Chlamydia Curable?

Is Gonorrhoea Curable? Here’s What You Need To Know

Herpes symptoms

What Are the Symptoms Of Genital Herpes?

What Does Chlamydia Look Like on a Woman?

Chlamydia on a man

What Does Chlamydia Look Like on a Man?

How Do You Catch Gonorrhoea?

What Does Gonorrhoea Smell Like?

How Long Does It Take For Gonorrhoea To Show Up?

Does a Smear Test Detect STIs?

How Did I Get Chlamydia If I Didn’t Cheat?

What is Oral Gonorrhoea & Does it Clear On its Own?

How Do You Get Chlamydia Without Being Sexually Active?

What is Usually the First Sign Of HIV?

A healthcare professional pressing on a person's arm after having taken blood from them for a test

Do they Test for STDs When Donating Blood?

Can You Get Chlamydia in Your Mouth?

Test tubes

How Accurate are Instant STD Tests?

A doctor with a stethoscope, get advice if you experience severe Bacterial Vaginosis symptoms

Should I Talk to My Doctor About My BV Symptoms?

Woman with symptoms of an STD such as a vaginal odor kneeling on a bed

Is It Normal for Vaginal Odour to Change with an STD?

A photo of HIV cells

Can HIV be Misdiagnosed for Another STD?

Mycoplasma genitalium bacteria

Is a Mycoplasma Infection associated with Bacterial Vaginosis?

A pregnant woman sitting down and holding her belly

How Should You Prepare for STDs in Pregnancy?

A holiday suitcase with books and sunglasses placed over it

Where to Access STD Testing When Travelling

A woman holding her head as a result of anxiety

Can Anxiety Cause Herpes Symptoms?

A woman lying in bed

How Long After Sex Should You Test For STDs?

A healthcare professional taking blood from a person

Would Syphilis Show in a Routine Blood Test?

A back of a woman, who is staring into the sunset

Bacterial Vaginosis: Causes, Common Symptoms & Testing For BV

A woman staring outside through the curtains

Surprising STDs You Can Catch Without Having Sex

Six blood samples in test tubes

How Do You Contract Hepatitis B?

Belly of a pregnant woman forming a heart on her belly

Can Ureaplasma Harm My Baby?

Living With Genital Herpes: How To Prevent & Manage Outbreaks

Can STDs Cause Infertility or Pregnancy Complications?

HSV-1 vs HSV-2: What’s The Difference?

Couple in bed

How Soon Can You Be Tested for STDs?

Testing for HIV in a lab

How Accurate is an HIV Early Detection Test?

STD Testing for Herpes Simplex Virus

How Common is Herpes in The UK?

Where You Can Get Tested for Hepatitis C

Row of sanitary towels

Can you test for an STD while on your period?

Testing swab

Are STI home testing kits reliable?

World HIV Day

Since the first known case of HIV in 1959 in Congo, HIV has swept the whole world and killed over 35 million people. This is almost double the population of the Netherlands, which is highly painful to comprehend …

Pregnant woman sat on floor

How common are false positive syphilis tests in pregnancy?

Couple in bed

How Long After Sex Do STDs Appear?

A man with a child walking on the beach

5 STIs That Affect Male Fertility

Couple in bed

Are there any STDs with no symptoms?

Man and woman kissing in the sun

Which STDs Can Be Caught From Oral Sex?

People passing a note to one another

How do different STDs affect your vaginal discharge?

A man's back looking into the distance

Is Male Discharge Normal?

Man & woman holding hands in a park

Everything You Need To Know About HPV

B&W image man on bed back facing camera

Are Genital Warts Curable?

A person lying in a bed with white sheets

10 STD Myths You Should Stop Believing

Toilet Roll Blue Background

Is an STD Causing the Pain When I Pee?

A back of a woman, who is staring into the sunset

Is My Itchy Skin an STD or Genital Psoriasis?

6 Ways STDs Impact Women Differently From Men

couple holding hands

Can You Catch Syphilis Without Having Sex?

pregnancy

Should I Be Tested for STDs During Pregnancy?

Can You Catch Trichomoniasis if Nobody Cheated?

Can You Catch Crabs Without Being Sexually Active?

How Does STD Home Testing Work?

What Could be Mistaken for Herpes?

How long does it take to get an STI test result?

Is it possible to get two STDs at once?

False Positive vs False Negative Test

A man's back looking into the distance

How Long Can Chlamydia Lay Dormant?

Can You Have Herpes & Not Give it to Your Partner?

Two pairs of feet in white sheets

Can STDs go away on their own?

2020: A Year In Sexual Health

Why is my vagina itchy?

Why is my vagina itchy?

Sex Without a Condom – Here’s Everything You Need To Know

What could cause pain during sex?

Can you get chlamydia from kissing?

Can You Be A Carrier Of Chlamydia & Test Negative?

What is a finger prick blood test?

How accurate are COVID-19 Antibody tests?

Everything you need to know about COVID-19 testing

Press Release: Testing firm warns of fake COVID-19 testing risk

Press Release: Your Sexual Health now offering COVID-19 tests

Do STIs Always Show Symptoms?

How often should I take an STD test?

What to do if you have chlamydia

Chlamydia In Men: Everything You Need To Know

According to 2018 figures from Public Health England, a higher percentage of young men tested positive for chlamydia compared to women. Despite this, the number of young men getting tested was half of the number of women …

Red Sore On Penis – What Could It Mean?

If you notice a red sore on your penis, it can often be concerning and embarrassing. There are a number of potential causes, all of which have subtle differences in appearance, but major differences in prognosis and treatment …

Public Health England STI Report: 5 Key Findings

A new report published by Public Health England shows that the amount of sexually transmitted infections in the UK continues to rise. To help you understand what these latest findings mean, Your Sexual Health has broken down the facts …

What to do if you have unprotected sex on holiday

According to a YouGov survey conducted in 2017, Brits are more likely to have a one night stand on holiday. So whether you’ve been swept off your feet by the prospect of a holiday romance or you’ve found love on the dancefloor …

Can You Catch an STD From a Swimming Pool Or Hot Tub?

It’s one of the most commonly asked questions on Google during the summer months, but can you actually catch an STI from a swimming pool? To answer the question in full, we asked Your Sexual Health resident GP, Dr Rashid Bani …

Symptoms of an oral STD

If you perform oral sex on someone who has a sexually transmitted infection, it’s possible to catch an STD in your mouth or throat. The symptoms that you’ll notice if you catch an STD in this manner will usually be localised to the area infected …

When is it necessary to take a swab STD test?

Choosing the correct STD test to suit your needs can often be difficult. In this article we take a look at swab tests and answer a range of common questions about them, including when it’s appropriate to use them …

Itchy Urethra or Penis – The Potential Causes

Itchiness affecting the penis can cause serious discomfort and affect your day to day life whether it be an itchy urethra or itchiness across the entire genital region. It can also be the cause of embarrassment when trying to relieve your symptoms …

What’s Causing The Rise In STDs Amongst Over 60s?

A new campaign from the NHS will attempt to tackle rising numbers of STDs in over 60s by offering them free condoms. The initiative is thought to be the first of its kind aimed at the older age group …

STD rates in Ireland begin to soar

Ireland is in the midst of a public health crisis as the five most common sexually transmitted infections have all noticed a sharp rise since 2013. Chlamydia, gonorrhoea, herpes, syphilis and HIV all noticed significantly higher …

Everything your need to know about PrEP

PrEP or Pre Exposure Prophylaxis is a drug which reduces the risk of contracting HIV by 90% or more. Following success in the US, a limited trial has been released in England and the drug is due to be fully accessible by 2020 …

5 Ways in Which The Government Can Meet Its 2030 HIV Pledge

The Health & Social Care Secretary has announced a pledge to end new HIV transmissions in the UK by 2030. Speaking at the AIDSfree Cities Global Forum last week, Matt Hancock set out plans to achieve the government’s goal …

3 STIs That Can Be Caught Even Using A Condom

When used correctly condoms are effective against the majority of sexually transmitted infections. They can prevent the spread of the most common infections, including chlamydia and gonorrhoea, and the most dangerous in HIV …

Can Genital Herpes be cured?

Genital herpes is a sexually transmitted infection which can be passed on through vaginal, anal and oral sex with an infected individual. It causes unpleasant blisters which burst to leave open red sores around your genitals …

What is Super Gonorrhoea?

Earlier this year two British women were infected with “super-gonorrhoea”. One of them was infected in the UK, which is the first reported case of transmission in the UK. Medical professionals believe this could mean that more people …

Can you catch an STI from a toilet seat?

You don’t have to be a germaphobe to dislike using a public toilet. No matter where you get caught short, the inside of a cubicle rarely offers us the same confidence as the inside of your own bathroom …

Two pairs of feet in white sheets

What To Do if You’ve Had a One-Night Stand

Your Sexual Health’s Dr Rashid Bani was featured in The Metro last week talking about how to deal with catching an STI at a work Christmas Party. The festive season is a time of year that often see’s people let their hair down and celebrate …

I Had Sex With Someone Infected With Chlamydia, What Shall I Do?

Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the UK with around 200,000 new cases reported each year. With so many people carrying the condition, there is a real chance many of us may come into contact with it …

pregnancy

MP Reveals HIV Diagnosis ahead of World AIDS Day

A Labour MP opened up about his HIV diagnosis in commons yesterday in a special parliamentary debate ahead of World AIDS Day. In an impassioned speech the Brighton Kemptown MP …

Prince Harry broadcast his test experience to the Royal Family Facebook page

Prince Harry Makes HIV Testing Plea

Prince Harry has called for an end to the stigma surrounding HIV testing in an emotional video to mark this year’s HIV Testing Week. He called for HIV testing to be seen as “completely normal and accessible” …

Can You Catch HIV Through Oral Sex?

Many STIs can be passed from one person to another via oral sex and the same can be said about HIV. However, in comparison to those other STIs the risk is much lower…

Pain When Urinating – What Could It Mean?

Many people will experience pain during urination at some stage throughout their life and it can be caused by a wide range of medical conditions. However, despite it often affecting the genital area …

Made in Chelsea star promotes sexual health

Public Health England have launched a new celebrity campaign encouraging young people to wear condoms during sex. It follows news that a new case of chlamydia and gonorrhoea was diagnosed every four minutes …

How is a Chlamydia Infection Treated?

Chlamydia is treated with a routine course of antibiotics that are available with a prescription following a positive test or if a doctor believes it’s highly likely that you have the condition …

Testing tubes

How soon can syphilis be detected following infection?

The primary symptom of syphilis usually takes between three to four weeks to show in the form of a small sore known as a chancre. The sore will not normally be painful …

your sexual health fallback

How to spot a fake STI test

There has been over 10,000 fake STI tests seized in the UK since 2015 and many more continue to be listed on online marketplaces. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) …

Sexual health clinics in England fail to meet HIV Testing targets

Despite their mandate set out to offer HIV testing to all attendees, sexual health clinics are still failing to offer the test to around 10% of people. The findings are reported following …

Couple in bed

Can I Have Sex During Chlamydia Treatment?

It’s a question that gets asked regularly by people receiving chlamydia treatment, Your Sexual Health’s specialist Dr Rashid Bani has the answer…

your sexual health fallback

Gardnerella Vaginallis in Men

Gardnerella vaginallis is a bacteria that can cause bacterial vaginosis. Despite gardnerella mainly affecting women it can still be passed to men as a colonisation within the male urethra …

Can Chlamydia Make You Infertile?

Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the UK and as a result it affects many people at some point during their adult life. Although it can easily be treated with a routine course of antibiotics …

Demand for sexual health services up as government spending is cut

Figures show that a record number of people accessed sexual health services during 2017 whilst funding for the service continued to be cut. According to reports over 3.3 million people in the UK visited a GUM clinic …

Tragic Death of Newborn Highlights Herpes Pregnancy Dangers

The tragic death of a ten day old baby boy in Manchester has highlighted the dangers of herpes during pregnancy. It was reported in the Manchester Evening News, that 22-year-old mother Kira Aldcroft …

Which demographic is most likely to contract STI

According to a recent report published by Public Health England in 2016, the number of people who were diagnosed with STDs went down. However, amongst 15-24 year olds the rates are still quite high …

your sexual health fallback

Promising Breakthrough Made in Development of HIV Treatment

In what has been described by the International AIDS Society as a “promising breakthrough”, scientists have developed a new antibody that may be effective in preventing and treating infection from the HIV virus …

Archers storyline highlights STI issue

The popular and long-running radio soap, The Archers, has put sexually transmitted infections into the public eye with its latest storyline …

UK Think Tank criticises “Reckless” cuts to STI testing

Your Sexual Health offers convenient alternative to NHS testing With many STIs on the rise in the UK, it’s no wonder that a public health think tank has deemed cuts to sexual health services “reckless” …

Could Latest Dating App Help Stop The Spread Of STDs?

The invention of Tinder has left many of its users exposed to STDs, but it looks like there’s an app on the way to combat the issue. It’s only in the concept phase, but NeatClub will be able to pull in a user’s STD testing history …

A healthcare professional pressing on a person's arm after having taken blood from them for a test

Could men be more embarrassed than women about STIs?

According to the University of Huddersfield, men are more reluctant to visit their local GUM clinic than women. The Yorkshire university conducted a survey which found that many of their male students were either too embarrassed …

GUM research highlights the need for better STD testing services

According to research carried out by New Scientist magazine it is getting harder to access sexual health services in the UK. A large number of genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics failed to meet government standards …

Government make sex education compulsory for more pupils

The government is making sex and relationship education compulsory in all schools across England. The classes will start with lessons about safe and healthy relationships for children aged four and up …

Cocaine users more likely to have STIs according to study

A leading medical university in the US has found that cocaine users are more likely to have sexually transmitted infections than non-users. Researchers at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine found that the drug …

Private STD Testing vs. GUM Clinics

If you’re sexually active and you’ve had more than one partner in the last six months then you’re amongst a group of people who should take an STI test. Without regular testing many sexually transmitted infections …

National HIV Testing Week Boosts awareness of disease

Saturday marked the start of National HIV Testing Week (NHTW), an awareness drive started by sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust and HIV Prevention England …

Private STI Clinics in London from Your Sexual Health

Are you looking for confidential and convenient STD tests in the capital? Your Sexual Health have extended their range of private STI clinics in London. New additions include a clinic near Liverpool Street station …

STI crisis beckons due to cuts to public STI services

Experts are predicting that the UK is heading towards a “sexual health crisis” due to public sector cuts to STI testing services. With STD clinic waiting times expected to go up …

your sexual health fallback

Your Sexual Health Guide to Starting University

Are you among the many students moving to university following success in your A-levels? As you ready yourselves to move to a new city you can look forward to the freedom …

Is it time you checked for holiday STIs?

Magaluf became the latest summer party resort to report a large outbreak of chlamydia this year with many British revellers engaging in unprotected sex in the sun …

Do you know how accurate your STD home test is?

Have you ever purchased a cheap STD home test online and wondered how accurate it is? Why would you even risk an incorrect result? When it comes to diagnosing STDs …

Prince Harry broadcast his test experience to the Royal Family Facebook page

Prince Harry undergoes HIV test for cameras

Prince Harry has played his part in raising awareness for HIV in the UK this week by undergoing an STD test in front of the cameras. Arriving at the sexual health clinic in London …

Guide on STD symptoms and different ways to get tested

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) or sexually transmitted infections (STIs) can affect anyone that is sexually active. The sexuality or sexual preference of the person does not matter …

Research shows that unsafe sex is biggest global risk

According to research published by The Lancet medical journal this week, unsafe sex is now the biggest risk to girls’ health across the world. The study, which relied on research across the globe …

Loose Women celeb encourages husband to have extra marital sex

Celebrity Saira Khan stunned viewers of Loose Women this week by admitting that she had told her husband he could sleep with other women. The former Apprentice runner-up …

STIs more prevalent amongst Tinder users

According to recent research from a British pharmaceutical company, you’re more likely to have a sexually transmitted infection if you’re active on the popular dating app, Tinder …