Thank you for taking the time to answering this. I’ve read through the forum and I’m pretty sure i know the answer, but maybe I’m just looking for personal advice.

I 40-year-old female performed oral sex on a male coworker who’s 47 years old. It was wrong as we are both married and I feel awful. I am now worried about possible. STI‘s. My main concern is chlamydia.

What is the likelihood that I could contract chlamydia through oral sex with ejaculation, and what is the likelihood that I could transmit said infection to my husband? Do I need to get an oral swab? I am not concerned about gonorrhea as most men are symptomatic.

Prior to engaging in oral sex I did ask him if he had anyone other than his wife. He said no, but I don’t know if I believe him.

Thanks for reading other discussions with questions similar to yours. Oral sex is very safe -- not entirely free of STI risk, but a lot lower chance of infection than from vaginal or anal sex. As for specific STIs, chlamydia should be at the bottom of your list of worries. Because of substantial recent research, there's been a lot of attention to oral chlamydia, but the bottom line is that it is very uncommon; when it happens, it causes no symptoms; it is rarely if ever transmitted to partners; and it's fairly quickly cleared by the immune system even without treatment. I would also add that the chance a partner like yours has active chlamydia is very low; it's a rare STI in people over 30 years old, even among those most sexually active and at risk.

It is true that gonorrhea usually causes obvious symptoms in male urethral infection -- so without symptoms it is unlikely your partner was infected. However, it much more readily infects the throat than chlamydia does. All things considered, you probably were at greater risk for gonorrhea than chlamydia. You're also at theoretical risk for syphilis and herpes and maybe HPV -- but all these are uncommon.

In general, people in your situation do not need testing for anything. However, given your concern about chlamydia and the fact that there is at least a small chance of gonorrhea, I recommend you be tested for both. The two tests are automatically linked -- a throat swab test for either always includes tests for both. You don't say how long it's been since the oral sex event; the tests are valid any time more than 4-5 days after exposure. Don't get me wrong:  the chance you have either infection probably is under one chance in several thousand and I expect negative results. 

I'll be happy to discuss further if you decide to be tested and would like to let me know the result. But try not to worry in the meantime.

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

HHH, MD