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Gonorrhea is a common sexually transmitted disease (STD) that is easily curable with antibiotics. If not treated early, however, gonorrhea can cause serious problems, especially for women. Over 800,000 American men and women contract gonorrhea each year.

Common symptoms:

• For women: abnormal vaginal discharge, bleeding between periods, and/or lower abdominal pain.
• For men: a discharge from the urethra and/or pain during urination.
• Symptoms can develop from one day to two weeks after exposure; however, 50 to 80 percent of women and 5 percent of men with genital gonorrhea do NOT experience or show symptoms. Both men and women can have gonococcal infections of the throat and rectum; most of these infections are without symptoms.

Gonorrhea is transmitted through unprotected vaginal, anal, and (less often) oral sex.

Diagnosis:

Only a health care provider can diagnose gonorrhea. Laboratory tests for gonorrhea are easily performed and involve the collection of fluid from the cervix, urethra, rectum, and/or throat.

Treatment:

Gonorrhea is successfully treated with oral antibiotics. Since many people with gonorrhea also have chlamydia, patients are treated for both infections. It is important that sex partners also receive treatment so that 1) the patient is not reinfected with gonorrhea from their sex partner, and 2) gonorrhea is not transmitted to others in the community.

Prevention:

• Abstinence from sexual activity is the surest way to avoid acquiring or transmitting gonorrhea.

• The next surest way is to limit sexual contact to one uninfected partner who only has sex with you.

• For those choosing to be sexually active, condoms should be used correctly and consistently to minimize transmission.
• Avoid sexual contact if suspicious symptoms are present. If you suspect that you have gonorrhea (or any sexually transmitted disease), seek immediate care at a local STD clinic, hospital, or medical practitioner.
• Before having sex, talk with your partner(s) about gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted diseases. Negotiate a risk reduction strategy with them that feels comfortable to both of you. If the STD status for you or your partner is unknown, go together to get screened at a local STD clinic, hospital, or medical practitioner.
  If you have gonorrhea (or any sexually transmitted disease), notify all sex partners so that they can also seek and obtain treatment.

People with gonorrhea are more susceptible to HIV infection than someone without gonorrhea. People who have concurrent infections of gonorrhea and HIV appear more likely to transmit HIV to their sex partners than HIV-positive people without gonorrhea.

In women, gonorrhea can spread to the uterus and fallopian tubes, causing pelvic inflammatory diseases (PID). PID affects at least one in six women with gonorrhea and frequently leads to infertility — the inability to have children. Gonorrhea can also be passed from a mother to her baby during birth. Without prompt treatment, a gonorrhea infection of the infant's eyes can cause blindness.

In men, gonorrhea can infect the epididymis, the body structure where sperm are stored. This infection, called epididymitis, can lead to infertility.

Fact sheet on Gonorrhea from the Centers for Disease Control.

Information courtesy of Seattle and King County Public Health
at (http://www.metrokc.gov/health/)

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