[Question #6150] Cunnilingus Exposure (Giver)

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70 months ago
23 days ago I was drunk at a strip club & stupidly performed about 10-15 seconds of cunnilingus on a stripper. There was a couple kisses with tongue & I did finger her but my penis never came out of my pants & there was no interaction with it. I came down with a cold for the week to follow, but others around me were sick & I'm assuming it is unrelated. At 13 days post exposure I went to an e7 health clinic & had throat swab for gonorrhea and chlamydia, also did what they called an "early detection" syphilis blood draw. My test results came back all negative a few days later. I had no other symptoms on mouth, lips or oral cavity other than coughing mucus and a whitish strip of mucus that comes and goes in the back of my throat still visible now at 23 days (assuming it's post nasal drip).  A couple days ago (day 18 post exposure) I was masturbating and noticed slight pain on the tip of my penis & while erect a little bit of a swollen lip if you will on the left side. Once flaccid I noticed while opening the hole that there appeared to be very tiny flesh (purpleish) bump (no liquid or opening). I continued to check for two days & the small bump and slight pain was still there. It had appeared to reside for a bit & couldn't avoid sex with my gf any longer so we had quick sex a couple days ago. During the sex I felt a stinging pain and afterwards it hurt to pee for the next 8-12 hours. There would be continued light shooting pains over the next 24 hours, but the pain during urination had resided. I also stopped obsessively opening my hole to check for the bump as I know that could play into irritation. Only other symptom is slight itching around pubic area.

With giving oral as my only exposure & my neg test results what are my risks? Would hsv2 if exposed orally only show up as symptoms at site of exposure or could they show up in genital region? How about for other stis like syph, gon, clamyd or hpv? Should I get a full round of tests done?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
70 months ago
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your confidence in our advice.

First and most important, transmission of STDs by cunningus is rare, and fingering and kissing are risk free for all practical purposes. Your negative throat swab for gonorrhea and chlamydia confirms you acquired neither of these, and the chance of any other STD was even lower than those. Having an oral STD cannot lead to penile or other genital infection; those symptoms are not due to any STD or other infection from this event. The same is true for your "shooting pains" or pubic area itching. If your penile or genital symptoms continue, see a doctor -- but they have nothing to do with the exposure you have described. (Except that some of your symptoms sound psychological. In that sense, they could be related, given your apparent anxiety about the event.)

In the US, the majority of syphilis currently is happening in men who have sex with other men; the chance of syphilis from this event is near zero. That said, I don't know what to make of your syphilis test result:  I am unaware of any "early detection" test for syphilis. Some of the newer tests can indeed be positive sooner than older ones, but all tests, both new and old, require 6 weeks for conclusive results. Without an oral sore (chancre) to suggest newly acquired syphilis, there is almost no chance you have it. But since you've started down the syphilis testing path, I suggest you follow it to completion -- i.e. have another blood test 6 weeks after the event.

As for HSV2, oral infections in this circumstance are very rare. As for other STDs, they cannot show up genitally; if you were infected, it would be oral with obvious symptoms. And your genital symptoms do not even hint at herpes. I recommend you not be tested for HSV:  the blood tests are not perfect, and the chance of a false or misleading result is a lot higher than the chance you caught HSV2. In theory, there was a risk of HPV, but oral HPV infections generally are harmless, and no more risky from this event than any other sexual exposures in your life that involved cunnilingus. (HPV is no more common in sex workers than in any other sexually active person, or only by a little bit.)

The last issue to think about is HIV. Oral exposure to HIV is generally safe, and there has never been even one case documented to have been acquired by perfomring cunnilingus on an HIV infected woman. OTOH, HIV testing usually is routine whenever anyone is evaluated for STDs, and it would therefore make sense for you to have an HIV test when you have the follow-up syphilis test in a few weeks. You definitely can expect a negative result.

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

HHH, MD
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70 months ago
HHH, Thanks so much for your response. A couple of follow up/clarifying questions.

1) It sounds like symptoms to the genitals/urethral opening would not be tied to transmission occurring at the mouth with any sti's (including hpv). Is that correct? Genital clamyd/gonorreah should be entirely ruled out, correct? Does that mean transmission to somebody else could only occur from my mouth to their mouth or genitals if by some chance i was infected with something? Or would I be contagious in penis to vaginal sex? Penis to oral?
2) Would having a cold at the time of my oral swab have any potential impact on a false negative? It seems I should be confident in those negative results per your note. 
3) Interesting on the early detection syph test. It was e7 health in Chicago and they charge $30 more and say "Trepsure testing is useful if it has been 2-4 weeks since a possible exposure" in the info about it.
4) While the points in #1 make me feel better, I'm still worried about this pain and bump in the urethral opening given it started after exposure. You mention HPV as a possibility in theory, would that also be oral risk only? Or could hpv symptoms display in genitals even if transmission occurred at mouth? Can I rule out a genital hpv wart in the urethral opening from this exposure?

Many thanks!

 
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
70 months ago
1) Correct, oral infection cannot cause genital symptoms. And if you have an orally acquired STD from this event, it cannot be transmitted to partners through genital contact, only by kissing or you performing oral sex.

2) Having a cold would not affect lab test results for any STD. No worries there.

3) TrepSure indeed is one of the tests that can be positive by 2-3 weeks after exposure, but not consistently. It can take 4 and probably sometimes up to 6 weeks.

4) HPV doesn't cause genital bumps (warts) sooner than 6-8 weeks after exposure. This symptom cannot have anything to do with the exposure event you have described. And no, HPV also cannot be acquired orally and show up genitally. No STD can do that:  period, no exceptions.
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70 months ago
Thank you for the reassurance. 
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
70 months ago
Thanks for the thanks. I'm glad to have helped.---