A bit of a general question here more to gauge the need for testing given the state of hospitals right now during Covid. 

As per another question I had blood testing done 2-3 months ago but I'm am just thinking now that I don't think syphilis testing was done. Plus a encounter from 18 months ago also popped into my head which once again I'm not sure testing for syphilis was done on previous blood tests.

So the encounter 18 months ago was with a female unknown. No insertive sex, but oral both ways and rubbing of genitals on the outside. And then as per a previous question.. sex and oral unprotected with a girl I do know(former co-worker) about 3 months ago.  My questions are.. would I expect to see any symptoms from these encounters by now? If so, what would they be?  Would it be possible to have contracted it 18 months ago without any symptoms?  And then also, I did take a weeks worth of Doxycycline (100 mg twice a day) basically immediately after each exposure, would this kills a new infection? 

Thanks 

Looking back at your previous thread, the exposure described there was exceedingly low risk (probably no risk) for syphilis. And probably so was the one 18 months ago. Most syphilis in Canada, as in the US, is among men having sex with men; heterosexually acquired cases are rare. Would you have had symptoms? Probalby yes, but not necessarily; among infected persons, asymptomatic syphilis isn't rare. But doxycycline in the dose and duration taken would abort or treat almost all syphilis.

The only way to be 100% certain, however, is to be tested. At a personal level, if somehow I were in your situation, I would not worry and would not feel a need for testing and would be continuing unprotected sex with my life partner without worry. But I'm not you -- and since you're nervous enough to have come to the forum with this question, I would think you would want the certainty of a negative test result. So I suggest you do it. I am confident it will be negative.

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

HHH, MD

While on the topic of symptoms for future information. Initial symptoms for all the bacterial STI'S, what is the normal timeline for symptoms? So the initial sore from syphilis and also discharge and irritation in the penis from Gonorrhea, NGU etc.  Would 2 months post exposure be too long for those to occur?

That completes the two follow-up exchanges included with each question and so ends this thread. I hope the discussion was helpful.