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Can you get a false positive for oral STDs if you're sick?

A week ago I gave my male partner oral sex (deep throat) for several minutes. He said that he had been tested recently and we then had protected intercourse.

About 4 days later, I came down with a really bad sore throat that lasted 2 days and went away, no other symptoms, although my throat continued to feel puffy. I thought it was allergies because I was out the night before the soreness while it was really cold and raining but I wasn't dressed adequately. I also hadn't been eating or sleeping enough for almost a whole month prior, due to anxiety and depression so my immune system was probably shot.

Now my tonsils are still a bit big and my throat feels weird, not painful, I just feel stuffy in my throat and nose areas. The weather has been crazy so I don't know if it's that.

My question is, should I wait until my throat is no longer puffy or hurting before getting a throat swab for Gonorrhea or Chlamydia? Is it possible that a false positive could come up for one or both of those if I have some sort of other infection or issues in my throat?
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3149845 tn?1506627771
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hi, it would appear you injured your throat from the oral sex as no std or even a flu symptom goes away in 2 days.
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4 Comments
Thank you for your answer. If my throat still feels congested, should I wait until that clears? Could getting a swab while possibly having a cold or allergies cause a false positive STD test? My throat pain went away after 2 days but I still felt congested and stopped up because of puffy tonsils.
What your mentioning is not any std symptom but more of a cold.  But you can swab it now.
Thanks again. My main concern though is that if I have some other bacteria in my throat from another infection or sickness still, could doing a swab for oral Gonorrhea make it possible to come out (false) positive? Because of other bacteria?
It shouldn't, if they do the correct testing.

If you're taking any antibiotics for your throat, though, that could affect your testing, giving you false negatives.
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