Transmission of gonorrhea via oral sex

[TonyOk]

Hello Community

Quick question - is it possible to get gonorrhea of the throat by giving an oral sex to a woman? I had been with an escort girl in DFW area and we performed oral sex on each other and then had regular sex with condom. Couple of days  later i got some sore throat symptoms that persist for a week now. No problem with any kind of penile discharge or trouble urinating, just the sore throat. Of course, it could be just a sore throat itself which i could have gotten in any place (including from the girl from kissing), but could it be throat gonorrhea? Should i go test for it? The girl is one of the high-end providers and likely to be clean, but i did not ask her at the time... she looked quite clean though...

Thank you

[Edward W Hook, MD]

There are no formal studies to answer your questions.  If the partner is infected however, the risk remains quite low, probably less than 5%. Overall either giving or receiving oral sex is safer than genital sex.  EWH

[TonyOk]

Doc

Thank you for the answer. For the reference, what are the odds of getting other infections via a) receiving oral sex and b) giving oral sex to a woman? Chlamydia, NGG, other urine type infections? I read that getting HIV or syphilis this way is extremely low chance, correct?

Thank you

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome back to the Forum.  I agree with your that this was a low risk, but not no risk exposure.  It is possible to acquire gonorrhea from performing oral sex on an infected woman.  It is very rare however and when it occurs, the throat infection is typically asymptomatic.  As you point out, it is unlikely your partner had gonorrhea and even if she did, the "efficiency" of transmission/acquisition through oral sex is very low.  It is far more likely that you just acquired the sort of viral sore throat that most people get from time to time.  If you wish to be completely sure, you should seek testing with a swab test taken from your throat.  Should you do this, I anticipate the test will be negative.

I hope this comment is helpful to you. I hope that your will keep up your commitment to safe sex.  EWH