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Herpes Risk?

Exactly two weeks ago I visited two escorts in London. The first one drooled/spat on my penis once to use as lubricant for a handjob (about 3 mins) until ejaculation. That was it, no oral or vaginal sex. Her saliva did cover the whole of my penis head including the uretha opening and it was quite a lot saliva. On the same day, a second escort licked and sucked on my scrotum for about a 1-2 minutes unprotected.

Exactly two weeks later I am experiencing a really sore, scratchy  throat, significant fatigue, loss of appetite, feeling generally weak and sometimes dizzy and a headache all popping up completely out of the blue. Could this be the start of herpes or another sti/std? The symptoms have lasted about two days.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
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207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
Receiving oral sex puts you at risk for genital herpes type 1, gonorrhea, NGU/NSU and syphilis.

It's too early for syphilis symptoms, and the only symptom you'd see for that is a painless sore.

If you don't already have hsv1 orally, then you could get that genitally. (If you have it already, you have antibodies that prevent you from getting it again in another location.) If the second escort who actually performed oral on you didn't have any sores on her mouth, it's not likely that you'd get herpes if it was that brief, but it is certainly possible. Did you kiss her? IF you didn't, it's not likely that you'd have a sore throat from this, as you wouldn't have been exposed orally.

NGU/NSU is an infection in the urethra that can be caused by normal mouth bacteria entering the urethra, but you would have symptoms in your urethra - burning, pain, itch, maybe discharge. It wouldn't give you any symptoms anywhere else.

Gonorrhea would give you similar symptoms as NGU, and wouldn't cause symptoms in other parts of your body.

Neither gonorrhea or NGU are transmitted by kissing.

Chances are pretty good that it's something like a cold, strep, or another upper respiratory infection. You should get it checked, especially if you don't see any improvement in the next few days. Unless you see genital symptoms in the next couple of days, or you kissed either of them, I don't think it's herpes.

Hope you feel better.

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6 Comments
Thanks for the reply. Just to clarify -

I didn't kiss any of them at all. But can the flu like symptoms I mentioned above be indicative of herpes?
Hey again,

It has now been 4 days since I messaged. So just thought I'd update. So after Jul 12, I started experiencing hot flashes, difficulty swallowing (feels like sand in my throat). Also abrupt joint pain in my legs which was followed by waking up that night sweating profusely.
These particular symptoms are gone now apart from my throat symptoms.

I have inspected my genitals and have not see any bump, lump, or spot out of the ordinary. It has now been just under 3 weeks since exposure and I'm wondering what to make of these sudden flu like symptoms. It is obvious my body is trying to fight off something. I know you probably hear this line over and over again on this forum, but seriously, I rarely get sick, and when I do I have never experienced anything like this.
Have you been do a doctor?

If you had all these symptoms from herpes, you'd have had an outbreak by now.

Since you are clearly dealing with some kind of illness, it's time to see a doctor. The difficulty swallowing should be addressed soon before it gets worse.
Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated.

I'm not too keen on running to my GP if it's just something viral I've caught, other than std's/herpes, that will eventually pass. The symptoms are definitely diminishing daily, the scratchy sore throat/difficulty swallowing I can live with as it passes.

I was definitely on the lookout for anything genitally, however I'm wondering whether it would be worth visiting my local GUM clinic based on the two encounters described above as well as the flu symptoms. I say this because I see and hear of so many people describing flu symptoms when describing their initial OB. (It's summer here in the UK as well so the timing is unusual for the flu.)
Your GUM clinic can test for NGU, gonorrhea and syphilis. They don't typically do any herpes testing unless there is a sore present. It wouldn't hurt to test for those, especially if you've had other encounters.

However, none of those would cause your symptoms, and all would give you genital symptoms only.

The flu like symptoms mentioned when talking about primary OBs are things like aches, pains, maybe a fever, a headache. It's not a sore throat if you got genital herpes. If you didn't kiss them at all, you aren't at risk for oral herpes, which could give you a sore throat.

Your throat is concerning to me. Difficulty swallowing can indicate any number of serious problems. Something is happening, and you need to get that figured out. Even if it's just strep, you need to get that treated, or it can cause serious problems.

I understand not wanting to run to the doctor with every virus, and it may just be that, but you should be seeing marked improvement soon if it's just a regular virus.
Hey There, Once again thanks for the reply.

I'll see how it improves and act accordingly. Will also keep an eye on any genital symptoms, but for now will tentatively accept that it's not an std.

Cheers for the help.
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