STD from oral

[sorryinsocal]

I recently had unprotected oral from a new woman (stupid i know).  I'm now concerned with the possibility of getting an STD from this.  My research indicates that herpes, chlamydia, gonorhrea and NGU are the most common for men to get from oral.  It also seems that chlamydia and gonnorrea are very rare to get this way.  Any opinion would be helpful.  Also, how long do i have to wait to get tested for chlamydia, gonn & NGU?  I've read 7 days - is that long enough?  Thank you.  

[gracefromHHP]

we don't recommend any testing unless you develop symptoms actually. the overall risk of contracting a std from unprotected oral is so low that it's not worth routine testing from it.

save your  money and chalk it up to a bad idea at the time and protect yourself in the future by only having protected sexual contact :)

grace

[sorryinsocal]

Thanks Grace - you're the best.  One question - what about asymptomatic STD's?  I understand chlamydia can be like that 50% of the time in men.  Not sure about gonorrhea being asymptomatic.  My concern in the short-term is passing something on to my girlfriend w/o knowing it.  

It's been 4 days since the encounter.  How long do I have to wait for symptoms?When would chlamydia and/or gonorrhea actually show up in a test?  '

Thanks again, and only protected sex of any kind for me from now on.

[sorryinsocal]

Grace - do you basically agree with the opinion on STD's from oral listed below from Dr. Handsfield from 2010?  He appears to be pretty adamant on this topic but there is so much contradictory information out there.  Please let me know if you agree with him or not.  Thanks.

"Welcome to the STD forum.  The chance you have gonorrhea or chlamydia from this event is zero for all practical purposes.  Let's discuss each of these STDs individually.

Gonorrhea is a relatively uncommon STD in the US and is largely concentrated in especially high risk population groups  Among most groups of sexually active women, well under 1% have gonorrhea.  Of those who are infected, fewer than 10% have oral infection.  So the odds your partner had gonorrhea that could have been transmitted by oral sex is under 1 chance in 1,000, probably far lower than that.  And the chance of transmission, if she had it, probably is well under 10%.  On top of that, 80+% of gonorrhea in the US is susceptible to ciprofloxacin, so your antibiotic therapy would have prevented most transmission risk.  Finally, although asymptomatic gonorrhea occurs, it is the exception, occurring in under 5% of infected men.  So absence of symptoms (urethral discharge, pain on urination) -- which would have started within 3-5 days of exposure -- is additional evidence you weren't infected.

Chlamydia is a virtual impossibility in this situation.  You'll find lots of information on the web and elsewhere saying chlamydia is acquired by oral sex, but it's wrong -- even though such statements often come from apparently authoritative sources, such as public health departments.  But the research is clear that chlamydia rarely infects the throat and, when it does, rarely is transmitted by oral sex (if ever).  Why do so many information sources get it wrong?  In my opinion, it is because there are many legitimate parallels between gonorrhea and chlamydia (symptoms, potential complications, etc), which leads people to assume that all aspects are similar.  But they aren't.  Finally, ciprofloxacin would have given you substantial protection.  Cipro isn't a recommended chlamydia treatment, but it has substantial activity against chlamydia and probably would prevent an infection from taking hold.

I think that answers both your questions.  In summary, you don't need testing and can be 100% confident you aren't infected with either of these STDs on account of the exposure described."

Regards--  HHH, MD .

[JessyJames2010]

Of course we will agree with Dr. HHH.    This is were we base the information.  

You should forget about the encounter you describe (unprotected oral sex from a woman), and go home.

If you are home.  Then Party.  

[sorryinsocal]

OK, I'm driving myself crazy.  The answers here (which i sincerely appreciate) indicate a risk of STD from oral in my situation is almost zero.  However, I keep researching this and there seem to be a ton of horor stories out there from guys who got STD's from oral, including a lot of syphlis and gonorrhea stories, let alone chlamydia.

So how do I figure out what to believe?  It's been 4 days (and no syptoms yet - still praying) and i'm really stressing out. I know I can test for chlamydia and gonorrhea at 7 days, but syph won;t show up for a longer time and I have a steady girlfriend.  Thank you.

[sm29]

we have the same story, i got tested, for everything not syphlis. they told me i should wait.
but the better idea is not searching in internet, while i do i have a nightmare of that and just try to find something in me. so i almost stoped searching, go and get tested, and on its time go for syph as well.
i hope we are both ok, and i will never do it again.

[sorryinsocal]

Thank you for your response.  So what is your take on this?  Grace and Dr. HHH seem to indicate that the risk is so low as to not be a real possibility.  I can't take the stress of this and don't know how long I can avoid having sex with my GF.  I also know that, no matter how low the risk, if you're the unlucky .01%, then it becomes 100% for you.  I will never, ever do this again and am praying we're both OK.

[sorryinsocal]

I’ve decided I’m going to get tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia whether I have symptoms or not.  How long do I have to wait until after my exposure to ensure that that test results are valid?

Also, based on my exposure via unprotected oral sex, do I need to get tested for syphilis or is that risk so remote as to not worry about it?  What about any other STD?

I’m so stressed out and will never do this again.  I just need my piece of mind back.  Thank you.

[sm29]

when i met my doctor, she told me come back after about 10 days for STD tests, but not syph.
She said 10 is good for most common stds, and the result for them is reliable after 10 days.( She said, I trusted her)

[gracefromHHP]

hey if you want, I can make you paranoid as all get out :)  Since I am a mom, I can throw in some good healthy guilt too if you want it!

Do people contract std's from oral sex? Indeed they do but overall the risk of such is very low.   It's really not worth the worrying and what if's from it.  I recommend turning off the computer for the next 2 weeks and living your life - at this point all you are doing is making yourself anxious needlessly.

If you take jesse's advice and party, do so responsibly and wear a condom !!!

[sorryinsocal]

Thanks again Grace.  For my own peace of mind I'm probably going to be tested anyway.  Testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea should do it, correct?

Syphillis is almost non-existent in the state where this happened and I understand that HIV from oral has never been officially documented.  And I know you can't test for HPV.  So I guess there's nothing else to test for, correct?

Have a great holiday.

[sorryinsocal]

Well, it looks like I overlooked the obvious.  6 days post encounter i have typical genital herpes symptoms.  I already have genital herpes (always assumed hsv2 but not totally sure).  If i had hsv 2, i thought getting hsv 1 genitally was very low risk due to antibodies and my daily suppressive therapy.  I also thought that getting hsv 2 from fellation was almost unheard of.   I've been stressed about getting other STD's from this encoounter so i suppose tis could be a recurrent outbreak from my current infecton.  But it's in a different spot.  Any thoughts, ideas, theories would be appreciated.  Thanks.

[gracefromHHP]

correct - it would be a recurrence of your previous genital herpes infection , not a newly acquired additional herpes infection.

did you start a round of antivirals?

[sorryinsocal]

Grace - so you don't think this is a new infection of whateve hsv i didnt have?  Was I right about gettng hsv 2 from oral being almost unheard of?  Dr. HHH says he's never seen a documented case of hsv 2 genital from oral/fellatio.

And yes, I'm on 500mg of valtrex every day as a suppressive.  Why would i get a recurrence if I was on that?  Fron the stress over other possible stds?  Is there any way this could be a new infection of a different hsv?  What about it being in a different spot than previous outbreaks (although very close)

Thank you so much for your time and understanding.

[sorryinsocal]

OK, so I just found out that the woman a got unprotected oral from has had cold sores since childhood.  So, it apears that I now have genital hsv1 on top  of genital hsv 2 (yes, a 2 time loser).  

I thought that having hsv 2 anitbodies and being on daily suppressive valtrex therapy would pretty much protect me from an hsv1 genital infection.  What did i miss?  Im very depressed about this.  

[gracefromHHP]

suppressive therapy  doesn't eliminate all recurrences - you will still get them.  

you won't get hsv1 after having hsv2. Having hsv2 gives you significant protection against contracting hsv1 both orally and genitally if you didn't have it previously.

really, it's your previous hsv2 infection, not something new.

[sorryinsocal]

Thanks again Grace.  Obviously, I think I’m going to be the rare exception to the rule.  So, a couple of “last” questions on this:

   •  Does the fact that this outbreak is in a different location (but close to) my prior ones mean anything?  I had an MD say that there’s no way that herpes outbreaks travel to other areas (called it “silly”.  His words, not mine).  Also, this outbreak seems worse than previous ones, making me think is a primary.

Can I get swollen lymph nodes from a recurrence?  I thought that was just during a primary outbreak.

   •  I did read that there are studies (some old though) that do indicate significant protection from HSV 1 genital from an existing HSV 2 infection.  Obviously, nothing is 100% when it comes to STDs.  If you had to put odds on it, would you say 1 in 1,000; 1 in 10,000; 1 in a million?

   •  I did see where Dr. Anna Wald, a renown herpes researcher at the University of Washington, actually stated that she had never seen a case of HSV 1 genital acquisition post HSV 2 infection.  I would think that says a lot for this, huh?

Of course the internet has horror stories of people claiming this happened to them.  Is it that rare as to say I should just ignore these stories as inaccurate?

   •  Lastly, I there any way I can ever know if this is HSV 1 or not; or is it just plain not HSV 1, period?

Thanks again.  

[gracefromHHP]

you can expect to have recurrences of your genital herpes anywhere in the entire boxer short area as we call it. They won't all be in the same general area in your lifetime.  

there is absolutely no reason to think that you are the exception. I would never lead you astray when it comes to herpes dear!!!

[sorryinsocal]

Grace - THANK YOU AGAIN!  Not sure how i could get through this w/o you.  So when we are talking rare, are we talking "blue lobster" rare?  Trust me, if it's 1%, then I'd be the 1%.  I got HSV2 from a one-time, protected encounter.  If I end up being the poor rare sot to get HSV1 genital on top of HSV2, I think I'd have to shoot myself.

What about the swollen lymph node?  Isn't that only with a primary outbreak?  Maybe since this outbreak is on the opposite side than previous ones then that lymph node is acting up.

Well, as you can tell I am just an emotional basketcase. I do trust you.  It's just I tend to have bad luck when it comes to beating the odds in things like this.  I'll try hard to chill.  Thanks again. :)

[gracefromHHP]

you are more likely to catch a blue lobster than you are to contract hsv1 genitally after having hsv2 genitally.

many things can cause swollen nodes, really no reason to worry.

I know in 27 years of having hsv2, I can easier tell you where I haven't had recurrences than I can to list everywhere that I've had them.

[sorryinsocal]

Once again, THANK YOU.  Does the fact that my recent outbreak went from crop to (small) open sores to scabbed & healing in 3+ days give more credibility that it's a recurrent vs. primary outbreak?

Also, on the hypothetical that I have HSV1 genital, getting HSV2 genital from oral on top of that would be extremely rare too, correct?

Finally, w/o any symptoms of gonorrhea or chlaymdia 9 days post-encounter can I stop worrying about those too?

I promise never, ever to put myself in this position again. Thank you and God bless you Grace.  

[sorryinsocal]

Hi Grace:  OK, one last fit of paranoia.  I have always assumed I have genital HSV2 because I gave it to my GF and she had very frequent outbreaks (every 6-8 weeks).  So based on that I assumed it was HSV2.  Now I'm afraid that i could have HSV1 genital and could have gotten HSV2 from the unprotected oral.  I know common knowledge says that is extremely rare (first for a woman to get HSV2 oral and then to transmit it during fellatio) but I've been reading a lot of stories about this happening to "a lot" of people (I know, stay off the internet).  

Based on my GF's outbreak frequency would you say I most likley have HSV2 already?  Second, are the odds of getting HSV2 from fellatio really that rare?  If 3% of oral herpes is HSV2 and it sheds 1% of the time, that would make it a .03% risk which seems small.  But if you multiply that by the number of people with oral herpes then you get a pretty big number.

As alway, let me know what the "truth" is on this.  Thanks (again)!

[terafrank]

Wait a minute...you knew you had HSV2, but had unprotected oral sex with a female who went down on you???

Did you tell her that you're infected???

[sorryinsocal]

Yes, and that I'm on daily suppressive therapy and have only had 2 outbreaks in 2 years (now 3).