In men, it most often infects the urethra. In women, it usually infects the urethra, cervix , or both. It also can infect the rectum, anus, throat, and pelvic organs. In rare cases, it can infect the eyes. Gonorrhea does not cause problems if you treat it right away. But if it's left untreated, it can lead to serious problems. For a woman, untreated gonorrhea can move into the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries.
This can cause painful scar tissue and inflammation, known as pelvic inflammatory disease PID. PID can cause infertility or ectopic pregnancy. Sometimes gonorrhea is called the clap, drip, or GC. A certain kind of bacteria causes gonorrhea. Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection , or STI. This means it can spread from one partner to another during vaginal, anal, or oral sex.
A woman who is pregnant can pass the infection to her newborn during delivery. Many people have no symptoms, so they can pass gonorrhea to their sex partners without knowing it. Gonorrhea infection in the throat may cause a sore throat, but it usually does not cause symptoms. Symptoms in men usually are easier to notice than symptoms in women.
But some men have mild or no symptoms. In women, the early symptoms may be so mild that they are mistaken for a bladder infection or a vaginal infection. When an untreated infection moves into a woman's pelvic organs, symptoms can include lower belly pain, pain during sex, vaginal bleeding, and a fever. The time from exposure to gonorrhea until symptoms begin usually is 2 to 5 days. But it may take as long as 30 days before symptoms start. You can spread gonorrhea even if you don't have symptoms.
You are contagious until you have been treated. Your doctor will ask you questions about your past health and your sexual history, such as how many partners you have. Your doctor may also do a physical examination to look for signs of infection.
Urine or fluid from the infected area will be tested for gonorrhea. You may also be tested for other sexually transmitted infections STIs at the same time. Testing can be done with a Pap test. As soon as you find out you have gonorrhea, be sure to let your sex partners know. Experts recommend that you notify everyone you've had sex with in the past 60 days. If you have not had sex in the past 60 days, contact the last person you had sex with.
Antibiotics are used to treat gonorrhea. It's important to take all of the medicine as directed. Otherwise the medicine may not work. Both sex partners need treatment to keep from passing the infection back and forth. Getting treatment as soon as possible helps prevent the spread of the infection and lowers your risk for other problems, such as pelvic inflammatory disease.
Many people who have gonorrhea also have chlamydia , another STI. If you have gonorrhea and chlamydia, you will get medicine that treats both infections. Avoid all sexual contact while you are being treated for an STI.
If your treatment is a single dose of medicine, you should not have any sexual contact for 7 days after treatment so the medicine will have time to work.
Having a gonorrhea infection that was cured does not protect you from getting it again. If you are treated and your sex partner is not, you probably will get it again. Finding out that you have an STI may make you feel bad about yourself or about sex. Counselling or a support group may help you feel better.
It's easier to prevent an STI like gonorrhea than it is to treat it. Gonorrhea is caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Gonorrhea is spread during vaginal, anal, or oral sex with an infected partner. A pregnant woman may pass the infection to her newborn during delivery.
Gonorrhea can be transmitted at any time by a person who is infected with the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae , whether or not symptoms are present. A person who is infected with gonorrhea is always contagious until he or she has been treated. Having a gonorrhea infection once does not protect you from getting another infection in the future. A new exposure to gonorrhea will cause reinfection, even if you were previously treated and cured. It is fairly common for gonorrhea to cause no symptoms, especially in women.
The incubation period, the time from exposure to the bacteria until symptoms develop, is usually 2 to 5 days. But sometimes symptoms may not develop for up to 30 days.
Gonorrhea may not cause symptoms until the infection has spread to other areas of the body. In women, the early symptoms are sometimes so mild that they are mistaken for a bladder infection or vaginal infection. Symptoms may include:. In men, symptoms are usually obvious enough that they will cause a man to seek medical treatment before complications occur. But some men have mild or no symptoms and can unknowingly transmit gonorrhea infections to their sex partners.
Disseminated gonococcal infection DGI occurs when the gonorrhea infection spreads to sites other than the genitals, such as the joints, skin, heart, or blood. Symptoms of DGI include:. Gonorrhea causes no long-term problems if it is treated early in the course of the infection before any complications develop.
Left untreated, gonorrhea can lead to serious complications. Women with untreated gonorrhea may have the following complications of the female reproductive system:. Problems related to untreated gonorrhea in pregnant women include:. If a woman has gonorrhea when she gives birth, her newborn can be infected. Women with untreated gonorrhea and infected newborns are more likely to develop long-term complications of gonorrhea.
Newborns of women with untreated gonorrhea may have any of the following complications:. Complications of DGI include:. Because many women do not have early symptoms of gonorrhea that cause them to seek treatment, they are more likely than men to have more serious complications from gonorrhea spreading to other parts of the body. Any child with gonorrhea needs to be evaluated by a doctor to find out the cause and to assess for possible sexual abuse.
Untreated gonorrhea can lead to many complications. Call your doctor immediately if you have the following symptoms. Call your doctor to find out when an evaluation is needed if you have the following symptoms. Call your doctor or clinic if you have unprotected sex with someone who has, or who you think may have, a sexually transmitted infection. Watchful waiting is a period of time during which you and your doctor observe your symptoms or condition without using medical treatment. Watchful waiting is not appropriate for a gonorrhea infection.
But untreated gonorrhea can lead to many complications. Avoid sexual contact until you have been examined by your doctor so that you will not infect someone else. If you know you have been exposed to gonorrhea, both you and your sex partner s must be treated. You need treatment even if you don't have symptoms. If you are unable to contact your sex partners or you are uncomfortable doing so, health departments and sexually transmitted infection STI clinics can help with this process.
Ask your family doctor or general practitioner about diagnosing and treating gonorrhea. You may be referred to a specialist, such as a gynecologist. Low-cost diagnosis and treatment of gonorrhea is usually available at local health units and family planning clinics. Some people are not comfortable seeing their usual doctor for sexually transmitted infection treatment. Most provinces have confidential clinics for diagnosing and treating gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted infections.
Diagnosis of gonorrhea includes a medical history and a physical examination. Your doctor may ask you the following questions. Your doctor will ask you questions about your medical history. Several gonorrhea tests can be used to detect or confirm an infection. Your doctor will collect a sample of body fluid or urine to be tested for gonorrhea bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Most tests give results within a few days. Other sexually transmitted infections may be present with a gonorrhea infection.
Your doctor may recommend testing for:. Your doctor must report to the local health unit that you have gonorrhea. The Public Health Agency of Canada recommends gonorrhea screening for all sexually active people age 25 and younger. The PHAC also recommends screening for people older than 25 who have risk factors for gonorrhea. You may want to consider being tested once a year for gonorrhea even though you don't have symptoms if you have increased risks for STIs.
These include having multiple sex partners or having sex without using a condom except if you're in a long-term relationship. Those few women with symptoms will have a discharge from the vagina and possibly some burning while urinating. Infections in the throat and rectum cause few symptoms. In males, symptoms usually appear two to seven days after infection but it can take as long as 30 days for symptoms to begin. Often, there are no symptoms for people infected with gonorrhea; 10 to 15 percent of men and about 80 percent of women may have no symptoms.
People with no symptoms are at risk for developing complications to gonorrhea. These people also spread this infection unknowingly. From the time a person is infected with gonorrhea, he or she can spread the disease. A person can continue to spread the infection until properly treated.
Past infection does not make a person immune to gonorrhea. Previous infections with gonorrhea may allow complications to occur more rapidly.
Gonorrhea is treated with cephalosporin or quinalone type of antibiotics. All strains of gonorrhea are curable but some strains are becoming more and more resistant to many standard medications. If a person is not treated for gonorrhea, there is a good chance complications will occur. Women frequently suffer from pelvic inflammatory disease PID , a painful condition that occurs when the infection spreads throughout the reproductive organs.
Back to Health A to Z. Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted infection STI caused by bacteria called Neisseria gonorrhoeae or gonococcus. It used to be known as "the clap". The bacteria that cause gonorrhoea are mainly found in discharge from the penis and in vaginal fluid. The bacteria can infect the entrance to the womb cervix , the tube that passes urine out of the body urethra , the rectum and, less commonly, the throat or eyes.
The infection can also be passed from a pregnant woman to her baby. If you're pregnant and may have gonorrhoea, it's important to get tested and treated before your baby is born. Without treatment, gonorrhoea can cause permanent blindness in a newborn baby. Gonorrhoea is not spread by kissing, hugging, swimming pools, toilet seats or sharing baths, towels, cups, plates or cutlery.
The bacteria cannot survive outside the human body for long. Typical symptoms of gonorrhoea include a thick green or yellow discharge from the vagina or penis, pain when peeing and, in women, bleeding between periods.
But around 1 in 10 infected men and almost half of infected women do not experience any symptoms.
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