Transmission possible for Chlamydia Conjunctivitis?

[carrott55]

Dear Doctor, I have a few very specific STD transmission questions. Almost 11 days ago I went to a strip club and had several "lap dances" and to many beers. In one of the lap dances I fingered the clitoris-vagina of the dancer. I cannot remember whether I fairly quickly inadvertently touched my eye or not or anywhere else, however I did touch my penis when urinating later in the evening in the restroom. Nothing else transpired. The next morning, 10-12 hours later after the contact with the dancer, I developed "pink eye'' in my left eye, which days later moved to my right eye. Both eyes itch, have a feeling of a foreign body sensation, and have a slight watery discharge at times. After about 3-4 days I went to the Dr and he prescribed topical antibiotic drops. After taking the drops for 3-4 days my eyes only seemed to worsen. I went back to the Dr and he said the pink eye was likely viral, not bacterial conjunctivitis, and the antibiotic drops were irritating the eyes. He advised me to stop the eye drops and felt it would improve in 3-5 days on its own. Two days after I developed "pink eye", my wife came down with it. Her's also has been resistant to the antibiotic drops. Fearing I may have really contracted Chlamydia (although I had no contact other than described above), I had an ANA Urine test for Chlamydia and Gonnorhea and both were negative.  Is it possible to contract Chlamydia Conjunctivitis from the finger to the eye as described above? If so, wouldn't the incubation period be longer than 12-24 hours? Could I pass it to my wife's eyes simply by touching her, even if not anywhere near her eyes? Lastly, is it possible to contract HIV from touching the clitoris-vagina of the dancer with my fingers and then touching my eye or penis using the restroom? Sorry for the length of the questions, but I have OCD and feel like I'm barely functioning at this point with anxiety. Any help or clarity would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Doctor.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

You may ask a limited number of relevant, non-repetitive follow-up questions as part of your original question.

Ofloxacin is highly active against chlamydia.  If your wife's conjunctivitis was due to chlamydial infection it would have gotten better with the drops.

No one has ever gotten HIV from any activities associated with masturbation (fingering) of a sex partner, no matter what part of the body, including the eye was touched after masturbation.  EWH

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum.  I can understand how after being in the strip club you might be concerned that you somehow picked up an STD through contact with a dancer but it is most unlikely.  Let me outline some of the reasons that I say this:
1.  Chlamydia is simply not effectively transmitted from one person to another on contaminated fingers. If it were we would see genital infections as well as eye infections arising this way and we do not.
2.  That the infection spread from one eye to the other is classical for viral conjunctivitis or "pink eye"
3.  For the infection to pass from you to your wife is also classical for pink eye.
4.  Finally, your non-response to the antibiotic drops is typical of viral conjunctivitis whereas most commercially available eye drops would be expected to be active if your conjunctivitis was due to chlamydial infection (which type of eye drops did you get?)

As far as testing is concerned, if you want to be tested for chlamydia, the specimen needs to be taken from your eye, not a urine test.

Bottom line,. this is almost certainly not chlamydial infection.  I predict it will begin to get better shortly as the viral infection subsides.  EWH