[Question #11989] Oral exposure

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11 months ago
Had a hand job from someone who used their saliva at one point and attempted oral when I said no. Her mouth was extremely close when she pushed her saliva onto the tip of my urethra as I said no oral(mouth did not make contact but very close) No kissing of any kind as well. That was the extent of exposure on July 12th. I had a round of augmentin(2x875mg per day for 7 days) for a nasty sinus infection. Treatment began August 6th. My main concern was for syphilis as I believe the augmentin would have treated both gonnorhea and chlamydia. I had a labcorp EIA test done on September 4th which was negative. My wife is currently pregnant and all of my stress and anxiety is in regards to her and my unborn. I never saw a chancre but i felt an odd 'sensitive part' on my right shaft. It almost felt like i had scrape or something when i touched it but nothing there. Two days ago i developed a small white bump inside my mouth which is painless. I read that secondary can cause this. Ive got concerns about testing further or having my wife test because of false positives which i also read can happen in pregnancy. Few questions below, thank you for this service.

1. What was my risk for each std?

2. Would my round of augmentin skew the results of my eia test or is that conclusive?

3. Would augmentin at this dose/schedule cure stds?

4. How would you suggest i proceed?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
11 months ago
Welcome and thanks for your confidence in our forum.

This event was zero risk for HIV and all STDs. If I understand, there may have been slight saliva contact with your penis, but saliva rarely if ever transmits HIV or STDs; in fact, saliva is toxic to STD bacteria and viruses. Otherwise, "very close" approxmation of your penis to a partner's mouth doesn't permit transmission, and even if her lips or tongue had contacted you, with such brief contact there would have been no risk. Even oral sex to completion (several minutes) is very low risk for all STDs and zero risk for some. Having a cold or sinus infection doesn't mean anything either:  no STD causes such symptoms; and yes, amoxicillin/clavulanate (Augmenting) would have prevented syphilis from taking hold. Your wife's pregancy also makes no difference either in the risk you were infected, that she could have been infected, or the chance of a problem with the pregnancy. I also have no concern about your penile shaft feeing "sensitive". Almost certainly that's just your anxiety raising your awareness of a trivial sensation that otherwise would not be bothersome and perhaps not even noticed. As for a "small white bump" and secondary syphilis:  impossible on several grounds. Among others, secondary syphilis doesn't start sooner than 6-8 weeks (and usually 2-4 months) after infection. Other causes of "white bumps" in the mouth must outnumber syphilis by a million to one. Finally, you have over-interpreted or misunderstood whatever you found online about false positive tests in pregnancy. It's not a significant problem for HIV or any STI.

Those comments pretty well cover your numbered questions, but to assure no misunderstanding:

1. Zero risk for any and all STDs. None are transmitted by hand-genital contact, even when genital fluids are used for lubrication. Such fluids cannot carry enough STD bacteria or viruses for infection to occur.

2,3. Since you weren't at risk, the antibiotic can make no difference. If you had been exposed, it would have prevented syphilis and probably gonorrhea and chlamydia. It would not have allowed infection; it would not make tests falsely negative.

4. I would advise against testing, that you should not be at all worried, and that you should continue unprotected sex with your wife without concern.

I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD
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11 months ago
Thanks for the reply. Im aware im being over paranoid in terms of this but we had an ectopic pregnancy and its extremely stressful now in terms of this prgenancy. I posted the questions for reassurance but i do have some followups. I read about a study where there were increased concentrations of syphilis bacteria in saliva which gave some some cauze for concern. 

For question 2, i know that my risk was 0 but still for my own anxiety: The augmentin dosage/regimen appeared low for syphilis so i wantex to check on that. In the event if exposure, would that clear it or stop it at around 21+ days exposure? Also since that would have been taken, i still would like to know if that would prevent the body from producing antibodies in relation to an eia test taken 3 weeks later from augmentin(7 or 8 weeks after exposure)

You also mentuoned that the sore would not develop before 6-8 weeks exposure. I just wanted to point out this would be week 9-10 and wanted to get clarification on that. Would a mouth lesion develop in secondary if i had no mouth exposure as well? 

Again thank you, i understand this is my anxiety but im really just trying to make absolutely sure that my results are reliable regardless of risk, and that seperately my risk was zero in this event. I appreciate your reassurance
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
11 months ago
No matter how high your level of anxiety, of course I'm not going to alter my professional judgment or advice. It is impossible you could have been exposed to syphilis, took augmentin a few days later, and still have syphilis. And as I also said, there was zero chance of you getting syphilis from such an exposure anyway.

That said, I misunderstood the timing. It seemed that all this occurred within a few days. But the body cannot produce antibodies if infection does not occur.

I said nothing about timing of an initial syphilis sore (chancre). But yes, 6-8 weeks is much too late.

I can confirn it is "absolutely sure" your negative results are reliable and that "separately [your] risk was zero in this event."

You came here for our professional evaluation and advice. You have it -- accept it or not, I don't care, but this isn't a debate!
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