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Cunnilingus & Mycoplasma Genitalium
Good afternoon Doctors,
I wonder if you can help. I'm in a long-term heterosexual relationship in the UK. Earlier this year my partner and I were going through some difficulty and I had single encounters with 4 different women in which I performed cunnilingus on them (over a few week period in April), one of which was a stripper. I had a negative throat swab taken for ghonnoreah and chlamydia, had put it behind me and got my relationship back on track. However, I recently read about mycoplasma genitalium and ureaplasma urealytum and their link to pelvic inflammatory disease and have become concerned that I could have picked these bacteria up in my mouth and potentially passed them to my partner by performing cunnlingus on her.
- I appreciate that little research has been done on mycoplasma genitalium or ureaplasma and oral sex but even if I had picked the bacteria up in my mouth would the same apply as for ghonnoreah - ie. virtually impossible to transmit to my partner by performing cunnlingus for anatomical reasons? (from researching your site I understand that Dr. Handsfield has never seen transmission of oral ghonnoreah to a female via cunnilingus and Dr. Hook has only seen it once or twice)
- There are various private clinics in London through which I could have throat swabs for Mycoplasma Genitalim and Ureaplasma Urealyctum - is it a good idea to do this or is the risk to my partner to small too even be worth thinking about?
Thanks for your help.
I wonder if you can help. I'm in a long-term heterosexual relationship in the UK. Earlier this year my partner and I were going through some difficulty and I had single encounters with 4 different women in which I performed cunnilingus on them (over a few week period in April), one of which was a stripper. I had a negative throat swab taken for ghonnoreah and chlamydia, had put it behind me and got my relationship back on track. However, I recently read about mycoplasma genitalium and ureaplasma urealytum and their link to pelvic inflammatory disease and have become concerned that I could have picked these bacteria up in my mouth and potentially passed them to my partner by performing cunnlingus on her.
- I appreciate that little research has been done on mycoplasma genitalium or ureaplasma and oral sex but even if I had picked the bacteria up in my mouth would the same apply as for ghonnoreah - ie. virtually impossible to transmit to my partner by performing cunnlingus for anatomical reasons? (from researching your site I understand that Dr. Handsfield has never seen transmission of oral ghonnoreah to a female via cunnilingus and Dr. Hook has only seen it once or twice)
- There are various private clinics in London through which I could have throat swabs for Mycoplasma Genitalim and Ureaplasma Urealyctum - is it a good idea to do this or is the risk to my partner to small too even be worth thinking about?
Thanks for your help.
Thanks a lot Doctor, as I suspected. Have a great weekend.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your question. Unfortunately, I don't think I can help very much.
As you found in your own research, there are no data on whether either U. urealyticum or M. genitalium can infect the oral cavity through oral sex, or on transmission by oral sex. However, the available data -- for example, the infrequency of gonorrhea transmission by cunnilingus (in either direction) would suggest a similar low risk for both UU and MG.
In any case, these are not very important infections. Most UU and probably most MG infections don't cause serious outcomes. Mostly they are carried in the genital tract without causing important disease. I don't recommend oral testing for them (we don't have tests available for them in my STD clinic and probably would find little use for them even if we did). Even if you were to have positive results for them on a throat swab, I wouldn't know how to interpret the result and would not necessarily recommend treatment.
So I don't recommend you do anything at this point. If you continue oral sex (as well as vaginal and perhaps anal sex) with your partner and neither of you develops symptoms or problems, you can pretty much forget it.
As you probably know, expert advice would be available in person at your local NHS GUM clinic; or, as you suggest, a private STD clinic, such as London's Freedom Health Clinic. But my guess is that either of these would agree with my opinion.
I hope this helps. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
As you found in your own research, there are no data on whether either U. urealyticum or M. genitalium can infect the oral cavity through oral sex, or on transmission by oral sex. However, the available data -- for example, the infrequency of gonorrhea transmission by cunnilingus (in either direction) would suggest a similar low risk for both UU and MG.
In any case, these are not very important infections. Most UU and probably most MG infections don't cause serious outcomes. Mostly they are carried in the genital tract without causing important disease. I don't recommend oral testing for them (we don't have tests available for them in my STD clinic and probably would find little use for them even if we did). Even if you were to have positive results for them on a throat swab, I wouldn't know how to interpret the result and would not necessarily recommend treatment.
So I don't recommend you do anything at this point. If you continue oral sex (as well as vaginal and perhaps anal sex) with your partner and neither of you develops symptoms or problems, you can pretty much forget it.
As you probably know, expert advice would be available in person at your local NHS GUM clinic; or, as you suggest, a private STD clinic, such as London's Freedom Health Clinic. But my guess is that either of these would agree with my opinion.
I hope this helps. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
You are reading content posted in the STDs Forum
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