Dear Reader,

Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the gonococcus. According to the American Social Health Association, approximately 1.1 million American men and women are estimated to be infected with gonorrhea each year. The course of infection, its severity, and how easily it is recognized are different for women and men.

Although you're more likely to be symptomatic when infected with gonorrhea, as compared to other STDs such as chlamydia, one of the most common symptoms of this and other STDs is no symptom at all. If someone does experience signs of gonorrhea, which are similar to chlamydia symptoms, they often show up two to six days after exposure or infection.

In men, there is usually a yellowish discharge from the penis. Urination could also be painful, or burn, and feeling a need to pee may be more frequent. Untreated, gonorrhea can spread from the urethra to infect the prostate gland, seminal vesicles, Cowper's glands, and the epididymis, which, if inflamed and scarred, can lead to sterility.

In women, the urethra or cervix are affected, and sometimes the infection is so mild that it goes unnoticed, particularly with inflammation of the cervix. Other symptoms include a cloudy vaginal discharge, abnormal menstruation, painful urination, and lower abdominal discomfort. If women don't detect any symptoms and the infection is left untreated, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), resulting in ectopic pregnancy, pelvic abscesses, and infertility.

Gonorrhea can be transmitted through oral and anal sex as well. With infection via oral sex, symptoms include sore throat, tonsillitis, or no symptoms at all. When transmitted by anal sex, there can be inflammation of the rectum or anus, itchiness, pus-like or bloody discharge, feeling the need to have a bowel movement often, or no noticeable signs whatsoever.

To diagnose this disease, health care providers use a smear (discharge put on a slide that's looked at under a microscope) or, more commonly, grow a culture. DNA probes can also be used to make a diagnosis more quickly. Antibiotics are used for treatment, although certain strains of gonorrhea are resistant to certain types of antibiotics, such as penicillin, which would require the use of new antibiotics or a particular drug combo to effectively combat these resistant strains. Since people usually are infected with both gonorrhea and chlamydia, you and your partner(s) need to be treated for both diseases at the same time. Your health care provider will help determine what's best for you.

If you are diagnosed with gonorrhea, make sure that you take your full course of antibiotics and return for a checkup four to seven days after finishing the medication for a repeat culture to make sure treatment was effective. All of your partners need to be treated. It's important not to have vaginal, oral, or anal sex until you and your partner(s) are cured to avoid reinfection. Lastly, safer sex and regular check-ups can go a long way in the prevention of STDs.

For more information, call the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National STD Hotline at 800.227.8922.

Alice

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