[Question #10086] Transmission of site-specific gonorrhea and chlamydia
26 months ago
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Can site-specific gonorrhea and chlamydia infections only be transmitted via contact with the infected site? For example, if someone has rectal chlamydia, can they transmit it through penile contact, or via semen or saliva? Or can they only transmit it through anal fluid?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
26 months ago
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Greetings and welcome. Thank you for your confidence in our forum.
Gonorrhea and chlamydia can only be transmitted from infected sites. Someone with urethral gonorrhea can infect a partner only from his penis, i.e. by insertive vaginal, anal or oral sex. Contact with his rectum, for example, is risk free. Similarly, if a woman has only cervical infection, she cannot transmit it by oral sex. And in your example, a rectally infected person is infectious only by contact with his rectum. The same is true for most STDs: HPV and herpes are only spread from infected anatomical sites.
Syphilis and HIV are exceptions, in a sense. While the STDs just discussed generally do not spread through the body to sites other than those initially infected, syphilis and HIV are systemic, body-wide infections. No matter where HIV was acquired (e.g. by receptive anal sex), before long the virus is throughout the body, including sites not initially infected.
I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if you have specific exposures, symptoms, or other aspects that concern you -- or if a partner does. Or anything else that might need clarification.
HHH, MD
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
26 months ago
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A related factor that may be on your mind is that testing for gonorrhea or chlamydia requires a specimen from the infected site. Occasional forum questions indicate that some people assume that urine or urethral testing can detect infection even if their only potential exposures are oral or rectal. Not true: the specifically exposed sites must be tested.---