Concerned after unprotected encounter

[Glaser88]

Late in the evening on Wednesday the 14th I had unprotected vaginal intercourse with a female other than my wife, to the point of ejaculation. Within 1-2 days, I started noticing a mild burning sensation in my urethra. I have also had an intermittent dull ache in my testicles that seems to be emanating from the area between my anus and my testicles. There does not seem to be any additional pain when I urinate or ejaculate. I have also not noticed any discharge. I have noticed that some urine continues to dribble out after I have finished urinating, but that is an issue I have always experienced.

On the afternoon of Saturday the 17th I had unprotected vaginal intercourse with my wife. On the afternoon of Wednesday the 21st my wife came home from work complaining of a headache, chills, and a "dull ache" in her stomach. Needless to say, I am very concerned about this. I have been worried to the point of causing myself to be nauseous. We had some leftover cephalexin in the cabinet, and I started taking it 3 days ago.

Is it possible that my symptoms and my wife's symptoms could be related to a STD I contracted during my unprotected encounter on the 14th? Could the symptoms come on that fast? Should I get a STD test?

Thank you for your reply.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum. I will try to help  The encounter you describe was low risk- most women do not have STIs and most unprotected encounters with infected partners do not lead to infection.  Further, while your urethral discomfort could be a symptoms of urethritis due to gonorrhea, chlamydia or NGU, your symptoms began sooner than is typical for STIs (which typically become symptomatic 2-3 days following an exposure, at the earliest) and your testicular discomfort and urinary dribbling do not suggest an STI at all.  Based on the low possibility of infection, I would suggest testing for gonorrhea, chlamydia and NGU however your taking keflex without knowing what was going on complicates things since it could suppress some STIs but not cure them.  I would stop taking the keflex and test nonetheless and suggest then testing again a week after you took your antibiotics.  Alternatively, the best thing you could do is talk your partner into being tested.  if she is not infected, you are OK.

I doubt that your wife's symptoms are due to STI.  Her symptoms are non-specific and do not suggest STI. EWH

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Too many "what ifs" here to be realistic.  Relax. EWH

[Glaser88]

Thank you doctor. Something I just thought of: we have a 9 month old that is still drinking breast milk. If my wife has in fact contracted a STI from me, what are the odds that it could be passed to our child through her breast milk?