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STDs  (Expert Forum)
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oral syphilis
Answered by
University of Washington Seattle - WA
Welcome to the STD Forum, which is intended only for questions and support pertaining to sexually transmitted diseases other than HIV/AIDS, including chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, human papillomavirus, genital warts, trichomonas, other vaginal infections, nongonoccal urethritis (NGU), cervicitis, molluscum contagiosum, chancroid, and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). All questions will be answered by H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D. or Edward W Hook, MD.

oral syphilis

by flipkid, Mar 20, 2009 08:45PM
hello doctor hope every thing is alright for youreself, first off i would like to thank you for all youre work in taking youre time to answear all of our anxiety questions. first of let me begin by telling you that i am a 22 year old hispanic male that has been sexually active with 2 partners in life. my first was my girl freind of 3 years we started going out in 03 and broke up in 05 since then havent had sex until this past summer of 08, i had
protected sex and gave unprotected cunninglus to a female of unknown sexual history, according to her she said she has only had 2 previous sexual partners in her life one of which is her baby's daddy. around december i decided to get tested but the clinic only offered hiv,ghonorreah, and chlamidia test which i came out negative. do you think i am in the clear for syphilis i get canker sores which are white on the inside of my lips and from what i understand syphilis sores are red how can i tell them apart? one time around december i did get a red sore on the inside of my cheek but it excused it thinking it was because my teeth caused friction on the inside of my cheeks. those  it sound like syphilis? thanks doctor.
also when i gave her oral i saw now vesible sore on her genitals if that helps. also am i in danger of hepatitis b i was vaccinated when i was an infant if that helps as well

by H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D., Mar 20, 2009 11:38PM
Welcome to the STD forum.  It looks like you hit return an extra time.  Your question appeared twice; I deleted the second.  You should use the contact link to communicate with MedHelp administration and ask if they will reimburse your credit card for one of the charges.

Syphilis currently is one of the rarest STDs in the US, and most cases are in gay men.  Your partner clearly has a very low risk profile for syphilis and other STD.  Also, transmission of syphilis by oral sex is quite unlikely, although not zero risk.  Finally, are you sure you weren't tested for syphilis in December?  Syphilis blood tests usually are automatic when someone is tested for HIV, gonorrhea, and chlamydia.  You should call the clinic and make sure; if you had a negative blood test for syphilis, then for sure you didn't catch it.

The sores in your mouth don't make much difference.  Canker sores are painful, syphilis chancres are painless.  Anyway, it is too late for a chancre; that would have shown up within 6 weeks of the exposure, not several months later.

Bottom line:  Almost certainly you don't have syphilis.  Call the clinic and see if a test was done and negative in December.  If not, you can have a syphilis blood test now.  You can expect a negative result.

Best wishes--  HHH, MD


Member Comments (5)

by flipkid, Mar 20, 2009 11:04PM
also the sore that happened on th inside of my check lasted for 4 days tops.

by H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D., Mar 20, 2009 11:38PM
That also is unlike syphilis.

by flipkid, Mar 22, 2009 02:41PM
thank you sir very much i am so sure now that i dont have syphilis, thank you for youre reasurance. also my last question on my upper back  i have a lot of pimples or bumps does that sound like an std sypmtom i noticed them around september and have been there ever since september when i noticed them, they look dryed up. what std would cause that?

by H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D., Mar 22, 2009 04:14PM
No STD causes such symptoms.

That ends this thread.  I won't have any further replies.
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