What Is It?
Gonorrhea (pronounced: gah-nuh-ree-uh) is a sexually transmitted disease
(STD) caused by bacteria called Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The bacteria
can be passed from one person to another through vaginal, oral, or
anal sex, even when the person who is infected has no symptoms. They
can also be passed from a mother to her baby during birth. You cannot
catch gonorrhea from a towel, a doorknob, or a toilet seat.
How Does a Girl Know She Has It?
A girl who has gonorrhea may have no symptoms at all or her symptoms
may be so mild that she doesn't notice them until they become more
severe. In some cases, girls will feel a burning sensation when
they urinate, or they will have a yellow-green vaginal discharge.
Girls may also experience vaginal bleeding between menstrual periods.
If the infection becomes more widespread and moves into the uterus
or fallopian tubes, it may cause abdominal pain, fever, and pain
during sexual intercourse, as well as the symptoms above. (This
widespread infection is called pelvic inflammatory disease or PID.)
How Does a Guy Know He Has It?
A guy who has gonorrhea is much more likely to notice symptoms,
although a guy can have gonorrhea and not know it. Guys often feel
a burning sensation when they urinate, and yellowish-white discharge
may ooze out of the urethra (at the tip of the penis).
How Long Until You See the Symptoms?
Symptoms usually appear 2 to 7 days after a person has been exposed
to gonorrhea, and in girls they may appear even later.
What Can Happen?
Gonorrhea can be very dangerous if it is left untreated, even in
someone who has mild or no symptoms. In girls, the infection can
move into the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries (causing PID)
and can lead to scarring and infertility (the inability to have
a baby). Gonorrhea infection during pregnancy can cause problems
for the newborn baby, including meningitis (an inflammation of the
membranes around the brain and spinal cord) and an eye infection
that can result in blindness if it is not treated.
In guys, gonorrhea can spread to the epididymis (the structure
attached to the testicle that helps transport sperm), causing pain
and swelling in the testicular area. This can create scar tissue
that might make a guy infertile.
In both guys and girls, gonorrhea can affect other organs and parts
of the body including the throat, eyes, heart, brain, skin, and
joints, although this is less common.
How Is It Treated?
If you think you may have gonorrhea or if you have had a partner
who may have gonorrhea, you need to see your doctor or gynecologist.
He or she will do an exam and swab the vagina or penis for discharge,
which will then be analyzed. The doctor may also test for other
STDs, such as syphilis or chlamydia.
If you are diagnosed with gonorrhea, your doctor will prescribe
antibiotics to treat the infection. Anyone with whom you've had
sex should also be checked for gonorrhea immediately. If a sexual
partner has gonorrhea, quick treatment will reduce the risk of complications
for that person and will lower your chances of being reinfected
if you have sex with that partner again. (You can become infected
with gonorrhea again even after you have been treated because having
gonorrhea does not make you immune to it.)
It's better to prevent gonorrhea than to treat it, and the only
way to completely prevent the infection is to abstain from all types
of sexual intercourse. If you do have sex, use a latex condom every
time. This is the only birth control method that will help prevent
gonorrhea.
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