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Infection?

Hello,

November  8th I had date with a guy. I asked if he was hiv negative and he said nothing to worry about. He uses prep and monitored regularly. We French kissed, gave bj without and he topped me with condom. He first used his saliva as lube then he used bottle of water-based lube. Afterwards we talked and I asked if we could see each other's lab results. He was indeed hiv negative but syphilis was positive. Tppa 1/680 en rpr negative. He told me I have not to worry and syphilis is not active. But I did worry and went to doctor week later for syphilis test. Came back negative. December 8th went to doctor again for hiv and syphilis test. Both came back negative. This week I went back because I had red spot on hard palate and felt burning sensation. Doctor said that it wasn't probably indication for syphilis but if I should have multiple in coming days then I need to come back. Doctor recommended mouth wash and spot day after was nearly gone. Also doctor said I should see the typical chancre but didn't have that. My doctor is on holiday but I seem to have mild sore throat.
Any help please?

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207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
So when did your partner test positive for syphilis? Did he say what kind of treatment he'd gotten?

Your chances of syphilis are low if he had no visible sores, but I absolutely understand the concern. Typically, when someone has a positive TPPA and a negative RPR, it does mean that they were successfully treated for syphilis in the past, and it's no longer an active infection. It could also mean a latent stage infection.

The best you can do is keep testing. A syphilis test is conclusive at 90 days, though most will test positive by 6 weeks.

The red spot you had - a syphilis sore will be a round, painless sore. If you google a syphilis chancre, you'll get a good idea what it looks like.

So test again in another month or so, and that should be good.
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2 Comments
Hello,

Afterwards I didn't check inside his mouth. Could it be that only oral syphilis happens if we kissed and when I received unprotected bj? Should I also see chancre on penis? Now I see inside my mouth something between my upper teeth and cheek.

Also I asked several when to test. Some say after 6 weeks,other 6 weeks and at 3 months and also only at 3 months. I did Google for syphilis chancre but hard to differentiate for me.

Kind regards
Kissing is a theoretical risk for syphilis. It's one of those things that people say can happen, but in reality, just doesn't happen unless a sore is on the lips. Oral syphilis is almost always transmitted by oral sex.

A chancre can appear anywhere from 10 to 90 days, but the average is 3 weeks. It would appear at the point of infection. If you got it from oral sex, it would probably be on the lips, tongue or roof of your mouth - whatever parts came into contact with the penis where a sore was.

So testing is conclusive at 90 days. Most people test positive by 6 weeks. Since most people will either develop a chancre or antibodies by 6 weeks, testing then is fine for most people if they don't know if there partner had syphilis. If someone has a known exposure to someone who definitely has it, the recommendations are usually to test at 6 weeks and 90 days, if not to also treat immediately, just in case.

In your case, I don't know that you need to treat immediately, because his results indicate a past exposure and successful treatment, but testing at 6 weeks and 3 months, just to be sure, is fine.

If you wanted to treat, and your doctor felt that was best, that wouldn't be unreasonable either.

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