Understanding Gonorrhoea: Symptoms & Treatment

Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted infection that can infect the throat, genitals or anus. Gonorrhoea can infect all humans equally through anal, oral or vaginal sex.

The cause of gonorrhoea is a bacteria called Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Symptoms of gonorrhoea

Female symptoms of gonorrhoea

Burning or pain while urinating, can feel like a UTI
Excess vaginal discharge
Bleeding between periods (unusual mid-cycle bleeding)
Foul-smelling discharge
Gonorrhoea may infect the cervix, urethra, rectum and throat
About 40% may not experience symptoms
Other coinfections increase the risk of symptoms

Male symptoms of gonorrhoea

Burning when urinating
Yellow or white discharge from the penis
Sore or swollen testicles (rarer)

Anal symptoms (everyone) of gonorrhoea

Anal discharge of any kind
Itchy anus
Soreness
Bleeding anus
Painful defecation/bowel motions

Throat symptoms (everyone) of gonorrhoea

May be no symptoms
Sore throat
Discomfort on swallowing
Appears like strep throat
Redness
Possible white spots
Yellowish/white discharge
Symptoms can occur days after oral or anal contact (7-21 days)
Kissing isn’t a very useful transmitter of oral gonorrhoea (pharyngeal gonorrhea) since the mouth and tongue don’t carry the infection (the pharynx is further down)

You can also get gonorrhoea in your eyes. You know how.

Outcomes and treatment of gonorrhoea

Gonorrhoea can be treated, but it’s important to avoid sex with an infected, untreated partner.

Gonorrhoea superbugs have already started appearing due to antibiotic resistance. Any permanent damage done by not treating the infection fast enough will remain, so regular sexual health check-ups are important for anyone at risk.

Wait a week after treatment to have unprotected sex again, and if symptoms remain, get retested.

Make sure all sexual partners are informed about the infection, despite this being an awkward conversation. If they have passed it on to others, they could run the risk of infertility due to scarring if they aren’t aware of the infection.

Untreated gonorrhoea causes inflammation and scarring in the fallopian tubes, preventing eggs from travelling to the uterus to be fertilised.

Gonorrhoea increases the risk of an ectopic pregnancy (in the fallopian tubes, life-threatening, because the spaghetti-sized fallopian tube can’t cope with a quickly-multiplying egg/foetus – it bursts into your body cavity).

Untreated gonorrhoea can also cause pain in the pelvis which can last a lifetime due to the damage.

Men can get painful testicle ‘tubes’ caused by inflammation, sometimes causing infertility. From time to time, gonorrhoea can spread into blood and joints, which is very serious.

References^1–3

1.
Barlow D, Phillips I. GONORRHŒA IN WOMEN. The Lancet. Published online April 1978:761-764. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(78)90870-x
2.
Unemo M, Seifert HS, Hook EW III, Hawkes S, Ndowa F, Dillon JAR. Gonorrhoea. Nat Rev Dis Primers. Published online November 21, 2019. doi:10.1038/s41572-019-0128-6
3.
Sherrard J. Gonorrhoea. Medicine. Published online June 2014:323-326. doi:10.1016/j.mpmed.2014.03.011