bacterial std and biaxin

[melencroft]

Hello,

I am male 34 y/o who had several encounters with 29 y/o female, all unprotected.  Her status unknown.  The last encounter was 8 months ago.  My two questions, for arguments sake lets say I was exposed to gonorrhea, chlamydia, NGU, and perhaps other common bacterial STD's.  I've had no symptoms other then what I suspect are mental from me thinking about it (urge to urinate, itching, things like that) and visiting sites like this one.

1.  I was on Biaxin very recently for repertory infection @ 2 - 500 mg per day for 8 days.  If I was infected with any of the above, would an 8 day course of Biaxin resolved these?  And yes it was 8 days and not the usual 10 for whatever reason.

2.  I've read on this site that most of these STD's resolve themselves within a few months even without treatment, but other medical and government websites specifically say the exact opposite and say only way to get rid of infection is to seek treatment.  Which is it?  I suspect they say you must receive treatment in order to dissolve infection so that you minimize risk of spreading, but even so that would be misleading.  Can you expand on this?

Thank you for your time and attention to my questions!

[Edward W Hook, MD]

After 8 months it is most likely that your infection would have eitehr cleared up or become symptomatic. EWH

[melencroft]

Thanks for the quick responds.  I may get tested just to clear my head, but to so I understand, in your opinion even if infected, after 8 months even if no Biaxin at all, is it likely that by now infection would have already cleared up?  Just trying to understand how long infections can last.  Thanks again.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum.  I'll be pleased to comment. Biaxin (clarithromycin) is an antibiotic related to azithromycin which is widely used to treat STIs however biaxin is not well studies for STI treatment or prevention. As a result, while it is likely that biaxin may be effective against common bacterial STIs, there are not good data to say this with confidence.  Most women do not have STIS and it is unlikely that your partner had and STI or if she did, you may not have acquired one. If you are worried about STI, my advice would be to seek testing, particularly for the common STIs such as chlamydia,, NGU or gonorrhea.

Regarding your second question, STIs often do clear themselves over time HOWEVER, before that happens, infected persons can transmit infection to others or have complications of infection.  Thus when a person is treated, it is best to treat the infection rather than try to wait it out.

My guess is that you do not have an STI but to be sure, if you are concerned, I would suggest testing, EWH