I am a male had an encounter with another male on May 1 2016.   No oral or anal sex  just solo  masturbation some  touching. In late may I had a sore on my penis. I tested positive for herpes 2 on June 16  2016 using herpeselect and confirmatory testing (not WB) . Confirmed hsv2 . I do have hsv1 for a while.  I panicked and began testing for all other diseases including syphilis . June 16 negative rpr , August 3 negative rpr and September 1 negative rpr. I read about prozone , could my herpes 2 antibodies given me a false negative Rpr ? Is rpr test accurate 4  mos after and do I have to worry about prozone ??  Lately I've been feeling tired with a headache , very anxious . Do I need different  syphillis testing other than rpr done ?

Welcome to our Forum.  I'll be pleased to address your question.  The short answer is that you can be completely confident that you did not get syphilis from the exposure that you have described. 

To provide a bit more detail, first let me point out that to acquire syphilis through receipt of masturbation from an infected partner, would be so rare is to be something that should be reported in a medical journal.  In other words, it is virtually unheard of.  Second, with the repeated testing that you describe over  a three month period, if you had syphilis ne of these tests would have been positive.  You do not need further testing of any sort and be completely confident that you did not get syphilis from the activities that you describe. 

I hope my comments are helpful to you.  EWH

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Dr. thank you for this forum. this is Super helpful.  I may have caught herpes  or I did catch it from the interaction but not syphillis ? I tested negative for hsv2 several years back. Never had any sore before   Is syphillis that much harder to catch ?  I feel  very worried and not sure how to ease my worried thinking and anxiety regarding my indiscretion.  Thanks again 

Sorry, we do not review pictures on this site.  We have tried in the past and they have been misleading.  I would, however point out that receipt of masturbation would not give you a syphilis rash on your lower leg. 

I repeat from above " The short answer is that you can be completely confident that you did not get syphilis from the exposure that you have described."  the same is true for herpes.  EWH 

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Thanks doctor. So a  rpr test is conclusive 17.5 weeks later ?  

Yes. at 17+ weeks, your RPR result is absolutely conclusive.  No reason for continuing concern and no reason for additional testing. 

Our Forum guidelines permit up to three responses to each question.  Thus this will be my final reply.  I hope my responses have been helpful to you and will allow you to move forward without concern.  EWH

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