[Question #8289] Unprotected oral - safe to proceed
46 months ago
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Hello,
I received unprotected oral sex and protected vaginal sex from 6 female CSWs at an Austrian FKK. All of whom were tested (all negative) within two weeks of my encounter.
It has now been ten days since exposure and I have zero symptoms. I underwent testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia after 6 days but the labs in my country are very slow to respond. I am curious whether I’m safe to resume unprotected sex with my normal partner. Thank you.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
46 months ago
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Welcome to the forum.
You're clearly at risk for a number of STIs. Vaginal sex with 6 separate partners, even with condoms, is pretty risky -- obviously markedly reduced by condoms, but not zero. Oral sex is low risk, even unprotected, but not zero. It's good to hear that all 6 partners have been tested and negative within 2 weeks of your exposures. But were they tested for oral gonorrhea as well as vaginal gonorrhea and chlamydia? In other words, their negative test results are reassuring but not conclusive. And you don't mention their test results for syphilis and HIV. Probably both these were negative or you would have heard otherwise -- but it's something you should check on just to be sure.
That you have no symptoms is good evidence that you didn't catch gonorrhea: the large majority of urethral gonorrhea would have caused obvious symptoms (discharge, painful urination) by now. However, it takes up to 10-14 days for chlamydia to cause symptoms. So from the standpoint of chlamydia, it would be best for you to await your test result before resuming sex with your regular partner. Probably your gon/chl tests will be negative, but better safe than sorry. You also should have blood tests for HIV and syphilis after about 6 weeks -- although the chance of these is very low, and I would not advise you to hold off on sex with your regular partner for that long.
In case you're not aware, for in-person evaluation and advice, you might visit your local federal sexual health centre (if you haven't already done so). Australia's SHCs are the world's very best network of such clinics, with world class clinical and prevention services for all STIs. You would never go wrong with their evaluation and advice. If you happen to be in Sydney or Melbourne, you have access to the best of the best among Australia's SHCs.
I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.
HHH, MD
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46 months ago
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Thank you, Dr.
It was in Austria rather than Australia. All workers are required to also test negative for HIV And syphillis In order to work at the club. It’s a rather expensive place and the workers were highly attentive to safety. Condoms were applied correctly and mouthwash was used before and after encounters.
I will heed your advice for sure. Is it necessary to wait 6 weeks for the HIV test as well or can I test sooner? Thank you again
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
46 months ago
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Sorry -- I misread Austria!
Glad to hear it's a safe club. An AgAb (4th generation, "duo", "combo") blood test would be ~98% reliable at 4 weeks, so a negative result at that time would be very reassuring. However, given the testing policies at the sex club, it seems there is no realistic chance any of your partners has HIV (or syphilis). You could skip those tests entirely.
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46 months ago
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Thank you, Dr. I’m thankful for your expertise. I will await my swab and urinalysis results. Given that I am vaccinated against HPV and HepB, and have no sores that might indicate HCV outbreak, are there any other infections I should be worried about?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
46 months ago
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Mention of "sores" suggest you mean HSV, not HCV. In any case, the risk of herpes is low for any single exposure and the blood tests for it are not highly reliable, so I would not recommend testing for it.
Thanks for the thanks. I'm glad to have helped. That concludes this thread. Best wishes and stay safe.
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