Gonorrhea reports in Jackson Parish are about 13% lower than the US average. If you're starting a new relationship or managing ongoing health, Jonesboro, Louisiana offers both local clinics for personal consultation and treatment, and at-home kits for convenient sample collection.
Available testing centers
9 testing options are listed for Jonesboro, LA. The nearest, Louisiana Department of Health, is about 1.1 miles away. Compare community and public clinics, private labs, and at-home kits below.
Listings tagged Community health center are federally funded health centers and rural clinics that treat everyone regardless of insurance or ability to pay: required to bill on a sliding fee scale and provide confidential care, and in many states minors may consent to their own STI testing. A Title X tag flags centers funded for confidential family-planning services; confirm current participation when you call.
Source: CMS FQHC & Rural Health Clinic enrollment files (data.cms.gov), refreshed quarterly. Title X status reflects the latest OPA grantee list.
Louisiana Department of Health in Jonesboro tests for gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, and HIV, treating bacterial infections the same visit when needed: all on a sliding scale, with HIV testing free, and an appointment required to be seen.
Languages
English
Tests offered
Serves
Care services
Prevention services
Fees & payment
Listing verified Mar 2026 · Source: CDC NPIN
Mercy Medical Health Center in Jonesboro takes walk-ins for the full panel (HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes, hepatitis A, B, and C, and TB) with same-visit treatment for bacterial infections, sliding-scale fees, and every test available at no charge.
Mercy Medical Health Center charges nothing for any of its services, which means the decision to get tested, treated, or vaccinated never gets filtered through a cost calculation. That zero-dollar baseline holds across the full panel, all care services, and every prevention program on offer.
Spanish is a fully operational language at Mercy Medical Health Center in Jonesboro: covering not just intake but medication adherence counseling, HIV/AIDS medical treatment, and the DoxyPEP dosing guidance that requires precise communication to be effective. That reach matters when the instructions are clinical, not conversational.
Many clinics prescribe PrEP and leave PEP and DoxyPEP to urgent-care or infectious-disease referrals. Mercy Medical Health Center in Jonesboro prescribes all three (daily oral PrEP, post-exposure PEP, and the doxycycline-based DoxyPEP protocol) consolidating the full range of biomedical prevention into a single practice.
Languages
English, Spanish
Tests offered
Serves
Care services
Prevention services
Fees & payment
Listing verified Jan 2026 · Source: CDC NPIN + HRSA
A public safety-net rural health clinic about 2 miles from Jonesboro. Sliding-scale STD testing and care are typical here, call ahead to confirm the exact panel and pricing.
Tests offered
Mercy Medical Admin Only Site in Jonesboro meets patients where insurance gaps, cash budgets, or stretches between providers leave them without options. Federally qualified and income-scaled, it offers STI screening for syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. No appointment needed to get started.
Tests offered
Fees & payment
A community safety-net rural health clinic about 16 miles from Jonesboro. Sliding-scale STD testing and care are typical here, call ahead to confirm the exact panel and pricing.
Tests offered
Free tool · not a clinic
Testing too soon can miss an infection. Enter the date of possible exposure to see the earliest a test can reliably detect each STI.
| Infection | Earliest reliable test | Conclusive after |
|---|---|---|
| Chlamydia | 7 days after exposure | 14 days after exposure |
| Gonorrhea | 7 days after exposure | 14 days after exposure |
| Trichomoniasis | 7 days after exposure | 28 days after exposure |
| HIV (NAT / RNA) | 10 days after exposure | 33 days after exposure |
| HIV (4th-gen Ag/Ab) | 18 days after exposure | 45 days after exposure |
| HIV (antibody) | 21 days after exposure | 84 days after exposure |
| Syphilis | 21 days after exposure | 42 days after exposure |
| Hepatitis B | 21 days after exposure | 42 days after exposure |
| Hepatitis C | 56 days after exposure | 77 days after exposure |
| Herpes (HSV) | 28 days after exposure | 112 days after exposure |
Guidance only, confirm timing with a clinician. A negative result before the conclusive date may need a repeat test.
Typical out-of-pocket ranges by option, actual cost depends on which tests you need.
Public / community clinic
Free HIV testing is common
Private lab (self-pay)
Never billed to insurance
At-home kit
Mailed to your door, private
Doctor / urgent care
Often $0 preventive with insurance
No centers match those filters. Clear the service-type filter or the opening-hours filters to see every center.
Every other option
Beyond the dedicated testing centers above: at-home kits by mail, hospital labs certified for STI testing, local clinicians who can order a panel during a regular visit, pharmacies for self-test kits and prescriptions, and online PrEP & treatment.
Test from home
The nearest testing center is about 1 mile away; if you'd rather skip the trip, an at-home kit ships to Jonesboro, you collect the sample privately, and mail it back to a CLIA-certified lab. Results come online in days, with a clinician available if anything is positive. Same labs as a clinic, no waiting room, and you can read how accurate at-home STD tests are before you order.
Want a free option first? The CDC-supported TakeMeHome (opens in a new tab) program mails free at-home HIV self-test kits, and, in many areas, free STI kits, to your door, with no insurance or payment needed. The paid kits below add broader panels and faster turnaround.
In-home collection
$79 & up
Best value: single tests
$49 & up
Best for simplicity & support
$89 & up
Every kit uses CLIA-certified labs. At-home testing is for screening; a reactive result should be confirmed and treated by a clinician. Prices and panels shown are illustrative and change often, confirm current details on the provider's site.
Also in the area
Beyond the public testing sites above, these federally certified (CLIA) labs serve Jackson Parish, each lab's town is shown on its card below. Many test through a doctor's order or by appointment rather than walk-in, so call ahead to confirm STD/STI testing and availability before visiting.
165 Beech Springs Road, Jonesboro, LA 71251
CMS-certified lab Accredited · COLA
103 Watts Street, Jonesboro, LA 71251
CMS-certified lab Accredited · COLA
Source: CMS CLIA registry (Provider of Services), Q1 2026. Federal public records: active CLIA-certified laboratories near Jonesboro. A CLIA certificate records only that a laboratory is federally certified — it does not confirm the site performs STD testing, nor its hours, price or access. Inclusion is not an endorsement; always call to verify.
Local clinicians
Beyond dedicated clinics, 46 primary-care, OB-GYN, infectious-disease and other clinicians have a CMS practice record within 30 miles of Jonesboro. They may be able to evaluate symptoms or order a confidential STD panel during a regular visit, and 3 offer telehealth.
Irina Pechenko, MD
Family medicine · 165 Beech Springs Road, Jonesboro
William Slusher, MD
Family medicine · 165 Beech Springs Road, Jonesboro
Kamal Masri, MD Telehealth
Internal medicine · 401 East Vaughn Avenue, Ruston
Ricky Hendrix, MD
Internal medicine · 401 East Vaughn Avenue, Ruston
Kevin White, MD
OB-GYN · 411 East Vaughn Avenue, Ruston
Landon Smith, MD
OB-GYN · 411 East Vaughn Avenue, Ruston
These are registry-listed clinicians, not dedicated STD-testing clinics. CMS records do not independently verify current licensure, testing services, availability, price, or new-patient status. Confirm each detail before booking. Source: CMS Doctors & Clinicians.
Nearby pharmacies
No pharmacy near Jonesboro, LA publishes an STD-related service or holds a current CLIA testing certificate, so these are simply the closest. Contact a location directly to confirm counter hours, services, prices, and availability before visiting.
0.4 mi Mitchells Pharmacy
0.5 miMurphy Nash Pharmacy
0.5 miFamily Pharmacy
1.5 miFreds Stores of Tennessee
19 miShowing the 5 closest pharmacies to Jonesboro, LA.
Directory records identify nearby pharmacies. Service, stock, price, and hours information is shown only when supported by current location-specific evidence.
Prevention & treatment
Testing is one step. For residents of Jonesboro, telehealth covers the rest: HIV-prevention medication (PrEP) and DoxyPEP to lower future risk, and discreet online treatment if a result comes back positive. All prescribed by licensed U.S. clinicians.
Visit from $0 insured
Telehealth STI treatment and sexual-health care, delivered or to your pharmacy
From $0 insured
Telehealth PrEP & DoxyPEP with at-home testing and ongoing monitoring
Visit from $39
Online STI treatment & DoxyPEP: same-day prescriptions to your pharmacy
$0 with most insurance
Free online PrEP & DoxyPEP: HIV prevention, home lab kits, no in-person visit
Pricing varies by insurance and changes often, confirm on the provider's site. These services are not a substitute for emergency care.
STD stats & rates
How reported STI rates in Jackson Parish, the parish that includes Jonesboro, compare with Louisiana and U.S. averages, based on the most recent 2023 surveillance data. An estimated ~31% of residents are aged 15–34 (ACS), the age group with the highest reported chlamydia and gonorrhea rates nationally.
#54 of 64 Louisiana counties for chlamydia, a higher rate than 16% of the state
| Infection | Jackson Parish | Louisiana | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chlamydia | 495 73 cases ▼ 38% | 792.4 | 492.2 |
| Gonorrhea | 156 23 cases ▼ 46% | 288.4 | 179.5 |
| Syphilis (P&S) | 6.8 1 cases ▼ 74% | 26.1 | 15.8 |
| Syphilis (early) | 13.6 2 cases ▼ 31% | 19.6 | 16 |
| Syphilis (late/unknown) | 94.9 14 cases ▲ 80% | 52.6 | 29.5 |
Rates per 100,000 population, 2023. Source: CDC NCHHSTP AtlasPlus (county, state & U.S., all-ages basis). Population figures: U.S. Census Bureau ACS. These figures are the latest available surveillance estimates. Bars are scaled to the highest rate shown.
Reading these numbers: reported case rates only count infections that were actually tested for and diagnosed, so they track local screening effort as much as true spread: a higher rate can reflect more testing, a lower one less. Either way, most STIs cause no symptoms, so treat the figures above as context rather than a verdict, and test on the CDC's schedule regardless of how your area looks.
Between 2020 and 2023 in Jackson Parish, chlamydia has risen from 459.1 to 495 per 100,000 (8%), gonorrhea has fallen from 206.2 to 156 per 100,000 (24%), and P&S syphilis has fallen from 26.6 to 6.8 per 100,000 (74%).
The 2020 dip reflects reduced pandemic-era screening, not lower transmission. Source: CDC NCHHSTP AtlasPlus (county, state & U.S., all-ages basis).
Community health context
Sources: CDC PLACES (ZIP), County Health Rankings, CDC/ATSDR SVI, HRSA HPSA, HRSA MUA/P, Neighborhood Atlas ADI. Lower insurance coverage, fewer routine checkups, and a thin primary-care ratio all raise the value of low-cost public clinics and at-home testing in Jackson Parish.
Local HIV snapshot
Jackson Parish HIV care continuum (2021)
Jackson Parish recorded 0 new HIV diagnoses per 100,000 (2021), against 22.5 statewide and 13.7 nationally. Among Jackson Parish residents living with HIV, 75.6% are in care · 60% are virally suppressed. Early, routine testing is what moves these numbers: it is the entry point to PrEP, treatment, and viral suppression.
Sources: AIDSVu (Emory/Gilead) · CDC AHEAD · CDC AtlasPlus · CDC NCHHSTP AtlasPlus (county care continuum). The CDC recommends everyone aged 13–64 test for HIV at least once: every lab and clinic listed above offers HIV testing, and free rapid HIV testing is available at a local health department.
Congenital syphilis, passed from parent to baby in pregnancy, is the fastest-rising STI in the country. U.S. cases climbed from 2,163 in 2020 to 3,882 in 2023. It is almost entirely preventable: the CDC recommends a syphilis test at the first prenatal visit, and every clinic and lab listed for Jackson Parish tests for syphilis.
Source: CDC NCHHSTP AtlasPlus, 2023 (county-level congenital syphilis is not published).
Local resources & officials
Data & references
Local context
East Main Street runs quiet through Jonesboro on most mornings, the kind of town where storefronts are familiar and neighbors recognize each other's trucks, but the practical realities underneath that calm are genuinely demanding. With nearly two-thirds of residents renting at a median around five hundred dollars a month, and fewer than one in seventeen households clearing six figures, discretionary spending is tight. A co-pay or lab fee that seems routine elsewhere can be a real calculation here. That calculus lands hardest on younger adults still forming relationships, the crowd in their late teens and twenties who statistically encounter STIs at higher rates than any other life stage.
Jonesboro's labor-force participation is notably low, meaning many residents are managing caregiving, irregular work, or both at once, often within larger households where a car is shared and an afternoon away isn't automatically free. They're accessible, but distance is a genuine factor to plan around. For the uninsured resident or the one on a fixed income, the sliding-scale and low-cost options among the 24 listed here are the ones worth examining first. Particularly those with posted fees well under what a standard urgent-care visit would cost.
Getting there
At 5.64/20 on the EPA walkability index, day-to-day errands in Jonesboro generally mean driving: plan on a car or rideshare to reach a clinic, and check each listing's hours and phone before you go.
Source: EPA National Walkability Index 2021.
ZIP 71251 snapshot
ZIP-level Census figures for the wider 71251 area around Jonesboro: a single ZIP can span several communities, so they describe the area, not Jonesboro alone.
Jonesboro sits in Jackson Parish, ZIP 71251. Local context that shapes where residents test:
Major routes
Nearby cities & towns
Just outside Jonesboro? These nearby communities have their own testing guides: clinics, at-home kits, and free screening close to home.
Reference
Everything to know before you test in Jackson Parish: the CDC's screening guidelines, each infection's detection window, per-test reference prices, and your privacy rights under Louisiana law. If you have symptoms right now, our confidential symptom checker maps them to the tests worth considering.
Based on current CDC screening recommendations.
| Group | Tests | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Everyone aged 13–64 | HIV | At least once |
| Sexually active women under 25 | Chlamydia, gonorrhea | Every year |
| Women 25+ with new or multiple partners | Chlamydia, gonorrhea | Every year |
| Pregnant people | HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B & C, chlamydia | Early in pregnancy |
| Gay & bisexual men (MSM) | Chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV | Every 3–6 months |
| Anyone who shares injection equipment | HIV, hepatitis B & C | At least yearly |
| All adults at least once | Hepatitis C | At least once |
Testing too early can return a false negative, confirm timing with a Jonesboro-area provider.
| Infection | Earliest reliable test | Sample |
|---|---|---|
| Chlamydia | 1–2 weeks | Urine or swab |
| Gonorrhea | 1–2 weeks | Urine or swab |
| Trichomoniasis | 1–4 weeks | Urine or swab |
| HIV (NAT / RNA) | 10–33 days | Blood |
| HIV (4th-gen Ag/Ab) | 18–45 days | Blood |
| HIV (antibody) | 3–12 weeks | Blood / oral |
| Syphilis | 3–6 weeks | Blood |
| Hepatitis B | 3–6 weeks | Blood |
| Hepatitis C | 8–11 weeks | Blood |
| Herpes (HSV) | 4–16 weeks (antibody); swab a sore | Blood / swab |
These are the federal Medicare reference prices for processing each lab test. Public clinics and the community health centers serving Jonesboro often test free or on a sliding scale; private labs and at-home kits bundle several tests into one fee. Use this as a per-test benchmark before you pay out of pocket, or see the full guide to STD test costs for insurance, free, and at-home options.
| Test | Reference price | CPT / HCPCS |
|---|---|---|
| Chlamydia (NAAT) | $47.80 | 87491 |
| Gonorrhea (NAAT) | $47.80 | 87591 |
| Trichomoniasis (NAAT) | $47.76 | 87661 |
| HIV-1/2 antigen/antibody | $26.87 | 87389 |
| HIV-1/2 antibody | $22.44 | 86703 |
| Syphilis (RPR/VDRL) | $5.61 | 86592 |
| Syphilis (treponemal antibody) | $17.49 | 86780 |
| Herpes (HSV NAAT) | $47.76 | 87529 |
| Hepatitis B surface antigen | $15.33 | 87340 |
| Hepatitis C antibody | $29.16 | 86803 |
Source: Medicare Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule, CMS, 2025 rates (data.cms.gov). Reference rate for the lab assay only: a clinic visit, sample collection, or a bundled multi-test panel may cost more. Medicaid and most insurers cover STD screening at no out-of-pocket cost.
Two things that actually depend on Louisiana law: who can consent, and whether partners can be treated without their own visit. Everything else about testing privately is the same nationwide (see below).
In Louisiana, a minor of any age can consent to confidential STI testing and treatment on their own, no parental permission is required.
Louisiana permits Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT): if you test positive for chlamydia or gonorrhea, your provider can give you medication (or a prescription) to pass to your partner, no separate exam or appointment needed for them.
Keeping a test private works the same in every state. Whether an STD test shows on insurance (the EOB), how to test anonymously, and self-pay options that leave no insurance trail don’t change by location.
Learn more about confidential STD testing in LouisianaSource: Guttmacher Institute, Minors' Access to STI Services; CDC, Legal Status of Expedited Partner Therapy. General information, not legal advice.
Good to Know
Answers to the questions people ask most before getting tested.
Possibly, Chatham, LA is close; compare it by distance against Louisiana Department of Health.
Medicaid generally covers STD testing, and public clinics test for free regardless of coverage.
Public clinics nearby offer free HIV testing.
Local options test for Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Herpes, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Rapid HIV, a full panel covers the common ones.
About 495 cases per 100,000 residents (2023), below the Louisiana average.
Lab results typically come back in 1–2 days.
PrEP (HIV-prevention medicine for HIV-negative people) is available locally, any provider can prescribe it.
In Louisiana, people under 18 can consent to confidential STD testing and treatment on their own.
Definitely worth testing; abnormal discharge often points to a treatable STI.
HPV and hepatitis B vaccines prevent those infections, ask a provider if you're due.
Have a different question? Browse the full STD & STI FAQ library, every question we answer, in one place.