Testing at 6 days for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia

Hi.  I had unprotected fellatio from a woman 12/2 and I also received a hand job from a different woman 12/4. I made an appointment to get tested for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia this next Monday 12/10.  This would put me at 7.5 days after I received unprotected fellatio and 6 days after receiving a hand job.

The gonorrhea test is a swab test.  The chlamydia test is a urine test.

How long should one wait before getting tested for gonorrhea (swab test) and chlamydia (urine test)?

[lucas272]

I moved the appointment to 12/17.  Is that long enough?  Almost 14.5 days and 13 days since the last two encounters?

[gracefromHHP]

you can test for both with urine. no reason to have your urethra irritated with swabbing.  

yes, that is enough time for testing for both.

grace

[lucas272]

Unfortunately the medical center that I go to offers the urine test (PCR NAAT) only for Chlamydia.  They test for gonorrhea only with the swab test.  It was painful/irritating the last time that I did the test.  

That said, the previous medical center in the city that I went to did urine test for both gonorrhea and chlamydia, but I then found out that they were doing cultures on the urine to test for the gonorrhea and chlamydia (not the PCR NAAT test). This is why they never specified the amount of urine (they just would say fill the cup and some would say first void and others would say mid stream). I could never get a straight answer from the doctors at that medical center how reliable this method is and since they did not inspire confidence I switched providers to the current medical center. Do you know if a urine culture for gonorrhea and chlamydia reliable?

[lucas272]

While we are on the subject, I have a general question/concern.

If gonorrhea or chlamydia go untreated in a male because it was asymptomatic, would that eventually lead to infertility?  Or are symptoms always present and noticeable in order for it to eventually cause damage/infertility?  I know gonorrhea almost always has obvious symptoms, but chlamydia does not and I'm not confident that I tested for it in time.

[Vance2335]

"I'm not confident that I tested for it in time."-Grace told you that your time frame was fine, yet you don't believe her, then why would you believe anything else we have to say?

[gracefromHHP]

yes, urine testing for both is accurate.

yes, you can have male infertility from damage from bacterial std's too.  

don't worry so much!!

[lucas272]

Hi grace, those weren't my questions.  The question was whether the urethral swab test is accurate after only 6 days.  Anyway, I decided to wait 2 weeks for good measure.

The other question was not whether bacterial STDs can cause infertility, but whether bacterial STDs that never presented symptoms can cause infertility.  OR for infertility to occur bacterial STDs must have presented with symptoms that went untreated.

[lucas272]

vance> the comment "not confident tested in time" was regarding a prior exposure that I waited months before getting tested, but never had any symptoms.

[gracefromHHP]

actually the answers are the same even though you think I misunderstood what you were asking.

[lucas272]

Thanks Grace.  I got confused because the replies were directed at different quetsions.  Make sense now.

I also just read this in one of Dr. HHHs postings:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/Swab-Testing/show/245317

"Yes, that's the best method.  Urine can be used for some kinds of test, but even with the best test, a specimen from inside the urethra is best.  Five days after exposure is plenty for gonorrhea, but a tad early for chlamydia; ideally a chlamydia test should be put off until 10-14 days after exposure.  However, this depends a bit on the specific test used by your doctor and his/her laboratory; some tests are better than others."

And this from Dr. Hook postings:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/How-long-to-wait-for-accurate-Chlamydia--testing-/show/1484523

"Perhaps what they meant was that symptoms of chlamydial infection might not appear within 12 days of exposure but I can assure you, if you had acquired chlamydia from the exposure you mention, your test would have been positive by day 12.  Typically tests are positive tin 3-4 days."

So basically, swab testing is fine for gonorrhea at 6 or even less days and chlamydia at 10-14 days whereas urine test is fine for gonorrhea and chlamydia at 3-4 days.