[Question #13857] Likely Hood of STI

1 months ago

Some background...I am a married 50 year old male. My wife is the same age. I have been having an affair with a younger women, she is 28. I have been having unprotected sex roughly weekly with both partners. My younger partner has had one other partner that I'm aware of as well.

Timing...on 2/23 my wife let me know she was having yellow/green discharge that was foul smelling, not fishy. On 3/2 I went in for testing and received negative results for N. GONORRHEA NUC. ACID, C. TRACHOMATIS NUC. ACID, and Trichomoniasis Test along with Hep and HIV, urine and blood. I did wait 2 hours before the urine test from previous urination.

I'm sure you can understand my concern. Do I have legitimate concerns that I passed along an STI to my wife and tested negative? Are there other STI's or possible reasons for her issues?

1 months ago

Sorry for the run on, but I should have also mentioned that WBC's, RBC's, LEUKOCYTE ESTERASE, and other indicators were not present in the urinalysis.

1 months ago

I really should have done a better job of thinking through my question. But additional info, i have had no symptoms and my younger partner claims to have on symptoms either.

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

1 months ago

Welcome to the forum. Thank you for your confidence in our services.

You present an interesting but somewhat difficult problem. I very much "understand [your] concern." This situation and the timing of your wife's symptoms do indeed raise legitimate concerns about STI transmision. Your negative STI tests are very reliable; it is unlikely you have gonorrhea, chlamydia or trichomoniasas. It is possible your wife has bacterial vaginosis. You seem to know some things about it -- revealed by your comment that she doesn't consider her discharge to be "fishy". However, interpretation of odors is subjective -- one person's "fishy" might be another person's "foul" or any number of other descriptions. That said, BV doesn't usually cause colored ("yellow/green") vaginal discharge -- another infection might be possible, which include STIs. It might be something non-infectious but from the information you provide is simply isn't possible to know.

My advice might make you uncomfortable, but we can't get around it: both your wife and your other partner need professional evaluation including STI testing. Their test results might answer these questions, but maybe not. I hope you're able to discuss the situation with both of them and get it worked out. I'll be happy to comment further if all this can be arranged or if you have other questions. In the meantime, I hope these comments are helpful.

HHH, MD

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