Fellatio Is A Risk Factor

According to a new study published in the journal of Infectious Diseases, oral sex may be a risk factor for nongonococcal urethritis (NGU), one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases affecting both men and women.

NGU is caused by a number of different organisms (most notably, Chlamydia trachomatis) and may lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, chronic pelvic pain, and the symptoms include pain upon urination (dysuria), and cloudy urine.

Though the cause of NGU is sometimes known, and antibiotics (azithromycin or tetracycline) are generally effective, about half of all cases have no identifiable cause, a fact that makes treatment frustrating and uncertain for physicians and patients

Results of previous studies show that Chlamydia trachomatis causes between 30 percent to 50 percent of cases of NGU and Mycoplasma genitalium, 10 percent to 30 percent.

A team of Melbourne researchers studied between March 2004 and March 2005 329 men with NGU and 307 men without symptoms of urethritis.

Chlamydial infection was common in both heterosexual and homosexual men with NGU and was far more common than in control groups.

C. trachomatis and M. genitalium were associated with unprotected vaginal sex. M. genitalium, adenoviruses and herpes simplex type 1 were more common in NGU patients than in controls.

Adenoviruses and herpes simplex type 1 were associated with oral sex and sex between male partners, suggesting that oral-genital contact may be an important mechanism of NGU pathogen transmission.

Additionally, NGU was associated to history of oral sex with new partners.

Together, these findings suggest that fellatio plays a significant role as a cause of the syndrome.