[Question #12908] Risk Assessment & Testing
4 months ago
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Hi Doc, over last weekend (12-13 April) I had unprotected oral and protected vaginal sex with 3 different escorts a total of 4 times (twice with one of them). Now ten days later I have zero symptoms as far as I am aware. I did ask them if they get regularly tested and all of them said they do, ranging from 2 weeks ago to on January for when they last got tested. I’m due for an sti screening test tomorrow (10 days later) but I know it is too early to get any reliable results for syphilis & HIV. However I do understand that these two should be quite rare in my circumstances, and I’m quite confident that I’ll be negative for gonorrhea and chlamydia. My question is should I pursue testing again six weeks after exposure for Syphilis? From a purely statistical standpoint how significant is my risk for syphilis? Also would you say that given that there is no symptoms I would be alright to continue unprotected intercourse with my wife? Thank you.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
4 months ago
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Welcome to the forum and thanks for a well considered question. It is clear you understand the basics of STI/HIV testing.
From a medical/risk perspective, you really don't need testing at all and it probably is entirely safe to continue unprotected sex with our wife. Maybe test after several more such exposures, but not after only 3-4 of them and with no symptoms. However, testing can have reassurance value even when the risk is nil, so feel free if you'll sleep better after the negative results. Urine gonorrhea/chlamydia testing is valid any time 4-5 days or more after exposure. An HIV PCR RNA test is conclusive after 11 days, so consider going a day later than your current plan. Or skip the PCR and just have an HIV antigen-antibody test (AgAb, "combo", "4th generation") at 6 weeks, along with a syphilis blood test. If you decide to test, you can expect negative results.
Assuming you're in North America or Western Europe, I would judge the chance of syphilis in this situation as under one chance in a million.
I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.
HHH, MD
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4 months ago
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Hey Doc, thanks for the answer. I’m from Australia if that matters at all. I’ve heard that syphilis is on the rise in this part of the world, is it limited to only homosexual males? Thanks
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
4 months ago
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Yes, syphilis is on the rise in Australia, but not across all populations. Mostly aboriginals, I believe. And gay men.
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You're in the country with the world's very best network of HIV/STI/sexual health clinics. Take advantage of your nationally funded sexual health centres. Your local sexual health centre is where you should go for testing or advice. If you're in the Sydney or Melbourne metropolitan areas, you have access to the best of the best among Australia's SHCs.
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3 months ago
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Hey Doc, thanks for the replies again. I think my following questions are bordering on anxiety at this point, but would it be possible for a chancre to appear in the urethral opening of my penis? What is a syphilis chancre supposed to look like? I noticed that the inside of my urethral opening is slightly red and almost looks swollen, however it does not look like a rash nor is it hard or painful to the touch. There’s no definite border either, it just looks like slight red swelling. Not sure if this is how it usually looks like and I’m just being overly anxious. Finally I do also have doxycycline at home, how effective is that in treating syphilis? Thank you.
3 months ago
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Oh and to add there’s also zero pain whatsoever when I’m urinating. Just no pain in general.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
3 months ago
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The description of your meatus doesn't even come close to suggesting a syphilitic chancre. Just google the term, along with "photos" or "images". You'll find many examples and you'll see that you would not miss or misunderstand a typical chancre. And I agree this is anxiety speaking. My guess is that your meatus is entirely normal.
Doxycycline is 100% effective against syphilis -- indeed the recommended treatment if benzathine (long acting) penicillin isn't available or otherwise cannot be used. But it would make no sense for you to take doxycycline for this purpose.
Taht completes the two follow-up exchanges included with each question and so ends this thread. I hope the discussion has been helpful. Best wishes and stay safe,
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