[Question #13149] Need reassurance after oral encounter
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2 months ago
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Two months ago I had a anon hookup with a white, 60 year old man where we performed oral on each other. While I performed oral (less than 30 seconds), he did not finish in my mouth; I did finish in his. It's been two months since the interaction and I have not had any noticeable symptoms. I ordered an at-home urine test to be sure, but should I be super worried? Been a little anxious as of late. Thanks!
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
2 months ago
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Welcome to the forum. I'm happy to help.
You describe a virtually zero risk exposure, and the absence of symptoms within two months is very reassuring as well. It can't hurt to have urine tests for gonorrhea and chlamydia, but you can expect negative results. You could also test for HIV and syphilis, but only for reassurance -- not because of significant risk. If somehow I were your situation, I would not be at all worried.
I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.
HHH, MD
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2 months ago
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Thanks so much for the reply!
Honestly, I was feeling okay until I read that many STIs can be asymptomatic and it kinda threw me in a anxiety spiral. I submitted the urine test today. Is there anything else that could reassure me before I receive my results? Sorry, if I'm sounding overly anxious.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
2 months ago
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Don't confuse "can be" asymptomatic with how frequently it happens. Under 1% of urethral gonorrhea in males is symptom free; 99% of the time there is painful urination and pus dripping from the penis.
Maybe some estimates of the probabilities involved will help you. We can disregard chlamydia since it is rare in the oral cavity and almost never transmitted to the penis by oral sex. Gonorrhea is the main one. Chance your partner had oral gonorrhea, maybe as high as 5%. Transmission risk for a single episode of fellatio if he was infected, maybe 10%. Chance of infection that causes no symptoms around 1%. Chance such an infection would last 2 months still causing no symptoms maybe 10%. Mathematically, these probabilities mean the chance you'll test positive are 0.05 x 0.1 x 0.01 x 0.1 = 0.0000005. That's 5 in a million or one chance in 200,000. I hope you'll agree that's zero for all practical purposes! (For comparison with other life risks, the US Safety Council says the chance of accidental death for the average American -- auto wreck, fall, drowning, etc, etc -- is 1 in 1,760 per year. In other words, the odds you'll die accidentally in the next 12 months is a hundred times higher than the chance you have gonorrhea.
My advice is to relax about your test result -- and to use your seat belt and keep up the batteries in your smoke alarms.
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2 months ago
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Again, thank you very much! Your humor and perspective has helped immensely in countering my anxiety. I will wait for test results, and if I have any further follow-up questions then, I will not hesitate to ask!
Last thing, as I know we only have two replies: Should I be concerned at all about potential oral transmission from giving oral sex? Again, no symptoms such as sore throat, inflamed lymph nodes, strep, etc.
Again, thanks so much! Y'all are amazing.
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2 months ago
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Actually, further clarification. I have had a canker sore in the past 2-3 weeks and that was very painful, but it has healed since then. I know it doesn't point to anything particular, but just wanted to include it just in case.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
2 months ago
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There's a small risk of pharyngeal (throat) gonorrhea, but very unlikely. However, it rarely causes symptoms and testing by throat swab is the only way to know with certainty. OTOH, most pharyngeal gonorrhea is cleared by the immune system within 2 months, so it likely would now be gone even if you had been infected. In theory, receiving a penis in your mouth also risks syphilis and HIV, but both are very unlikely -- and a canker sore is unlikely to be a chancre (syphilitic sore), and chancres usually are painless. OTOH, canker sores don't usually last 2 weeks or more but syphilitic chancres do. While I doubt you have syphilis, it would be reasonable to be tested for it. But here too, the only way to be 100% certain is to be tested for it. And for HIV, as long as you're having the syphilis test.
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From a medical/risk standpoint, I still don't advise testing. However, you should consider it for reassurance. Based on your question and overall concerns, I suspect you're going to worry about all this until and unless you test with negative results. If so, you can test now with conclusive results: urine and throat swab for gonorrhea, blood tests for HIV and syphilis. Enough time has passed for conclusive results, and you can expect all to be negative. (The gonorrhea tests also will include chlamydia, usually automatic when gonorrhea is tested -- but your risk for chlamydia is nil.)
That completes the two follow-up comments and replies 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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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
2 months ago
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Historical/etymological note: As is pretty obvious, "chancre" and "canker" have the same linguistic origin; both come from Latin for "crab" and at one time had the same meaning. As I understand it, the same word became chancre in French and canker in old English. Today they mean quite different conditions -- but in view of your exposure history and the duration of your apparent oral canker sore, it makes sense to be tested for syphilis. Don't be over worried in the meantime; the test probably will be negative. But better safe than sorry!
And I'll make a deal with you. In the unlikely chance your syphilis blood test is positive, please return with a new thread to let us know. If that happens, we'll refund the posting fee.
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