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Syphilis test results after 37 days

I had fully protected sex with a csw. 24 days after the encounter I saw a small red bump on the shaft of my penis near the base(on a place that the condom may or may not covered). It did not become an ulcerated sore. 5 days after the appearance, I squeezed it. Did not manage to pop, but I could squeeze it some clear fluid and blood, causing a trauma. It scabbed in a day and healed fully in 10 days.

37 days after the encounter (5 weeks and two days passed) I couldnt wait longer and went for a blood test. RPR came back negative. They also did IgG/IgM ELISA test, also came back negative with a value of 0.676.,

I was 5 days short of the recommended 6 weeks. Should I get tested again? The ELISA test would be positive sooner then RPR if i had syphilis, right?

Thank you!
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207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
I totally agree with Dr. Hook, and would have said the same.

That said, Dr. Hook literally wrote a book on syphilis, and I would absolutely trust him on this. He is definitely an expert.
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Thanks! So it is okay to end this journey here, without getting retested again? I still dont know what that red bump was(even the scar disappeared by now, like nothing ever happened), and I didn't have the opportunity to show it to a dermatologist. Very well could be follucilitis tho, because there were 3 little hair in the exact area.  I don't want to spend $150 again without a reason, but of course I will do so happily if any considerable amount of risk exists.
A syphilis sore would last around 3 weeks, and a herpes sore would be blistering. My guess would be folliculitis. You can spent the money if you want, but I don't see any reason to test again.

If it were me, I'd end the journey. If you get sores again, get it checked to make sure you don't need an antibiotic or anything.
Oh that would be an antibiotic for folliculitis, not anything else.
Thank you for your help! It's great that there are people like you(and EWH and HHH over at ASHA, even if it's paid) who are willing to spend their time helping others for little or no return. I wish you all the best!
Same to you! :)
Avatar universal
FYI, Dr. Hook answered a similar question:
" In most situations however, if a syphilis blood test is going to become positive after an exposure, it will typically do so by five weeks after the exposure.  The same is true for HIV and at 6 weeks, HIV tests are absolutely conclusive.  The recommendations you received for re-testing are overly conservative.  I am confident that your 11 week tests will also be negative.  Please don't worry.  "

"At 5 weeks your HIV result was more than 99.9% accurate.  As for syphilis, there are fewer high quality data but my estimate is that the five week results are also at least 99% accurate.  I have never seen or heard of an instance for either infection in which a result changed after 5 weeks."

So probably I am safe, combining the negative test with the facts that this was a very low risk exposure, and my lesion did not have the characteristics as a typical chancre.
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