[Question #10863] Syphilis?
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19 months ago
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Hi doctors, around 3 weeks ago I (male) engaged in mutual masturbation/handjob with another male. Throughout the act he used the same hand to touch my penis that he used when touching his. This morning I realized a small bump on my penis shaft that is red in the center. So I went to get a rapid syphilis antibody test that came back negative. My questions are:
1. How likely is it that this bump is a syphilis canchre?
2. Is my negative rapid antibody test (test is called health check rapid test) reliable
3. Is it Likely to have a syphilis sore but still test negative?
4. I also took an RPR blood draw test and am waiting for the results. How accurate is this test at detecting primary syphilis? I read that some time tests miss syphilis at the primary stage.
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19 months ago
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Hi doctors- As an update my RPR test came back negative…any help with my above questions is much appreciated.
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
19 months ago
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Welcome back to the Forum. I note that this is your 7th visit to the site in the past 9 months and that like the exposure you describe, your dalliances tend to be quite low risk, followed by concern (perhaps guilt driven) over the possibility that you might have acquired an STI. These concerns have repeatedly led you to repeated testing and receipt of antibiotics that you do not need. Your life and lifestyle is, of course, your own but I might suggest some reflection on your extra-curricular activities. I worry that you are paying a price in terms of anxiety, not to mention exposure to unnecessary antibiotics.
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In this question you are asking once again about syphilis which is almost never (in science one can never say never) acquired through mutual masturbation or hand-to-genital contact of any sort. Had you asked if you needed testing, I would have said no unless you noticed an obvious open sore on your partner's hands. Your risk for syphilis is virtually zero. In response to your specific questions:
1. How likely is it that this bump is a syphilis canchre?
The lesion you describe sounds nothing like a syphilitic chancre. If this were an early chancre it would rapidly evolve to form an open ulcer. What you describe sounds like folliculitis or some other benign, non-STI process.
2. Is my negative rapid antibody test (test is called health check rapid test) reliable
The syphilis health Check is a proven, very reliable test, It is widely used.
3. Is it Likely to have a syphilis sore but still test negative?
A blood test for syphilis can be negative for 2 or at most 3 days following the appearance of a lesion although in most cases, when the lesion appears, tests are positive.
4. I also took an RPR blood draw test and am waiting for the results. How accurate is this test at detecting primary syphilis? I read that some time tests miss syphilis at the primary stage.
The syphilis Health Check and RPR test for syphilis in different ways. Both are highly reliable. If anything, the Health check would become positive a day or so before the RPR.
Bottom line- your exposure was no risk and your tests provide strong evidence that the lesion you have noted is not syphilis (what has become of the lesion?) Personally I would not be worried in the least despite the theoretical possibility that this might be syphilis and you tested a day or so too early.
I hope this information is reassuring. EWH
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19 months ago
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Thanks for you response doctor. Today I took another rapid Syphilis health check test that was negative, as you predicted.
I did notice though the the lesion on my penis is starting to scab over with the exception of a little red in the middle that looks like a a scrape or cut. So my question is, is this description consistent with how a syphilis sore looks/progresses? Or is all of this in my head?
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
19 months ago
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The description you provide in no way sounds like a syphilis chancre. Syphilis chancres do not scab over EWH---