Gonorrhea: Transmission, Symptoms, Testing, Treatment, and Prevention
Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae. It can infect the genitals, rectum, and throat, and many people have no symptoms.
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Contents
Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae. It can infect the genitals, rectum, and throat, and many people have no symptoms. Testing—not appearance—is required, and prevalence figures need a stated country, year, and denominator.
How Does Gonorrhea Spread?
Gonorrhea spreads through vaginal, anal, or oral sex when susceptible tissue contacts the bacterium. It can also pass to a baby during childbirth. It does not spread through hugging, food, toilets, or everyday contact.
When Do Symptoms Appear?
Symptoms can begin within days to about two weeks, but timing varies and many infections remain asymptomatic. Possible signs include burning urination, unusual discharge, bleeding between periods, pelvic pain, testicular pain, sore throat, or rectal pain and discharge. Symptoms cannot reliably distinguish gonorrhea from chlamydia or another STI.
How Is It Tested?
NAAT is the main test, using urine or a sample from the vagina, cervix, throat, or rectum according to exposure. Culture and antimicrobial-susceptibility testing may be needed when resistance, persistent symptoms, or treatment failure is suspected.
How Is It Treated?
Use current guideline-recommended antibiotics. Do not self-treat with purchased or leftover medicine because resistance is increasing. Partners from the period assessed by the provider may need testing and treatment. Avoid sex for the advised interval and until partners have been treated. Retesting at about three months helps identify reinfection.
Possible Complications
Untreated gonorrhea can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, chronic pelvic pain, epididymitis, and fertility problems. In rare cases, infection spreads to blood or joints and requires urgent treatment.
Prevention
Use condoms or dental dams, test exposed sites when you have a new partner or possible exposure, and communicate without blame. Gonorrhea can be acquired again after successful treatment, and a result cannot reliably establish when infection occurred or from whom it was acquired.
Verified references
Links and relevance to the article’s main topic were reviewed on 13 August 2026. Each source supports only the scope stated in the original document and does not replace personalised medical, legal, or service advice.
- CDC: About Gonorrhea Accessed 13 August 2026
- CDC: STI Treatment Guidelines Accessed 13 August 2026
