[Question #9818] encounters 6 years ago
28 months ago
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hello
:i had some extra marital encounters with women — me receiving oral — multiple times between 6-12 years ago. i
am in my mid 50s.
i never had any symptoms of chlamydia or gonorrhea so never tested for them.
i’ve read that in both men and women these infections if acquired but never detected clear up within 1-2 years.
guilt over this dalliance has me worried if i could have contracted them and passed them my wife — neither of us have been tested or had symptoms.
6-10 years past these exposures — can i be confident if i had them neither of us have them now?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
28 months ago
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Welcome to the forum. Thank you for your confidence in our services. I'm happy to help.
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The bottom line is that almost certainly you do not have gonorrhea, chlamydia, or any other STD. The risk was not zero, of course, but there are several reasons you can be confident.
First, chlamydia: contrary to popular beliefs and lots of online misinformation, oral chlamydia is rare, hence rarely transmitted by oral sex. In fact, there have been almost no proved cases of oral to penile chlamydia transmission. You could have told me you'd had hundreds of such encounters, and I would judge it very unlikely you ever were infected.
Second, gonorrhea: It's fairly commonly transmitted by oral sex in some settings -- especially men having sex with men (MSM) -- but oral gonorrhea is uncommon in women, even the most sexually active, so most likely none of your partners had it. And if you were exposed and infected, you would have known it. Asymptomatic urethral infection can occur (I'm the researcher who first documented its frequency back in the 1980s), over 99% of infections cause obvious symptoms you couldn't miss, i.e. pus dripping from the penis and seriously painful urination.
Third, you are correct that if you had acquired either of these STDs, you can disregard exposures more than a few months go. The immune system clears both infections from the urethra within a few months. In theory, somewhere along the line you could have had an asymptomatic infection you transmitted to your wife. But if she also has not had any apparent genital symptoms (unexplained vaginal discharge, painful urination other than typical UTI, unexplained pelvic pain), probably she was never infected.
Syphilis always is a consideration for people with multiple sex partners and can be transmitted by oral sex, but in the US the large majority of cases are in MSM; and you certainly would have noticed a chancre (open sore for a couple of weeks) on your penis. As for HIV, there has never been a proved case transmitted oral to penis.
For reassurance, you might want to have a urine gonorrhea/chlamydia test and, to be super safe, blood tests for syphilis and HIV. Honestly, I think even these are optional, but you might sleep better knowing you have tested negative.
I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.
HHH, MD
28 months ago
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thank you.
with regard to:
Third, you are correct that if you had acquired either of these STDs, you can disregard exposures more than a few months ago.
if this is true then there is no chance i could currently have these infections as the exposures were six years ago, correct?
and similarly my wife would not either six years from my exposures? i think women might take longer to clear these infections but six years is enough time to disregard any risk?
i have had blood tests for hiv and syphilis. which were negative. .
28 months ago
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sorry, i wanted to add, since these exposures were 6+ years ago, and i can disregard exposures more than a few months ago, there can be no medical need to test for G and C infections at this time — would that be correct?
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
28 months ago
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"then there is no chance i could currently have these infections as the exposures were six years ago, correct?" Yes, correct.
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" six years is enough time to disregard any risk?" Also correct.
"no medical need to test for G and C infections at this time". Correct as well. The only issue is whether you will continue to worry about it. Some people are more reassured by negative test results than by professional opinion, no matter how expert. (We don't take it personally when people feel that way about our advice!) So it's up to you. Personally if I were in your situation, I would not be tested.
Glad to hear you were tested and negative for HIV and syphilis.
28 months ago
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thank you again. one last question — as i recall, there was an encounter four years ago which included a massage type with hand to genital on me and me performing analingus on a woman. i’ve read here that those exposures don’t even have risk for these C and G infections.
my syohilis and hiv testing was done 5 months or so after this final encounter.
again, i know this is repetitive and should be the same answers, but this additional last encounter while four years ago does not change any of the information above. no medical need for any testing and any C or G if acquired in my mouth would similarly be gone by now and and four years would also be enough time to clear these infections for me and my wife?
again many thanks!
28 months ago
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again sorry to be a bother. just a simple ‘correct’ would be enough of an answer….thanks again for the time.
28 months ago
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oh, also, i do find this interesting and you might find my insight academically interesting as well:
We don't take it personally when people feel that way about our advice!
for me, asking a medical professional expert and getting answers is the guidance i seek and i tend to follow the guidance itself. the great thing about forums like this is that it provides answers and interpretations of medical research to the laymen which can be confusing to try to do oneself.
so again, thanks for having this forum available.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
28 months ago
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Thanks for those kind comments. We pride ourselves for exactly the approach you outline: science based assessment, always with an eye to what the research shows. Which we often cite when it seems likely the questioner will benefit.
As for your closing question, you are correct: hand-genital contact rarely if ever risks any STD, even if genital fluids or saliva are used for lubrication.
That concludes this thread. Best wishes and stay safe.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
28 months ago
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Sorry, I missed the analingus question and re-opened the thread for a brief reply. For the oral partner, the main risk is enteric infections -- diarrheal diseases and so on. The risk of any of the standard STDs is believed to be very low; and oral/pharyngeal infections like gonorrhea and chlamydia never last more than a few weeks. I wouldn't worry at all about such an event all those years ago.---