Diagnosing and treating gonorrhoea

The symptoms of gonorrhoea usually appear 1 to 14 days after the infection has been caught, but in many cases symptoms may not appear for a few months or until the infection has been passed to other areas of the body.

Symptoms of gonorrhoea typically include a coloured and often smelly discharge from the penis and vagina, a frequent need to urinate and pain or tenderness in the lower abdomen or genital area.

It is thought that around 50% of women and 10% of men who have been infected with gonorrhoea experience little or no symptoms, meaning that the infection can go untreated for many months.

Testing for gonorrhoea is quite straight forward; the doctor or nurse will use a swab (similar to a cotton bud) and take a sample from the cervix or penis to test for the presence of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae, which is the bacterium that causes gonorrhoea. Depending on where you are tested, the results can be given on the same day or up to 2 weeks. Better2Know can get you results 2 days after your sample reaches our laboratory.

If you are diagnosed with gonorrhoea, it is suggested that you get tested for other STD’s, as nearly 40% of women diagnosed also have the Chlamydia infection. Gonorrhoea is treated using a single dose of antibiotics; this can be in the form or a pill or an injection. Another test should be booked for three days after treatment to ensure that the treatment has been effective.