Over the years, gonorrhea has become resistant to most of the antibiotics used to treat it. Successful treatment now depends on using cephalosporins, especially if coinfection with chlamydia is present.
Gonorrhea is most often transmitted during vaginal, anal or oral sex without using a condom. It can also be passed from a mother to her baby during childbirth.
It’s not possible to get gonorrhea without having sex.
Gonorrhea most commonly causes symptoms in the reproductive parts of the body for women and people assigned female at birth, such as a vaginal discharge or pain or burning when you pee (dysuria). Women who are pregnant may also experience these symptoms. For men, gonorrhea can spread to the throat, urethra, or anus, and can cause rectal itching or a sore throat. If left untreated, gonorrhea can lead to serious and permanent health problems, including infertility.
Gonorrhea is spread when someone who has the infection passes it to you through vaginal, anal, or oral sex. Symptoms usually show up 1 to 10 days after you are exposed. But some people — especially women – never have symptoms.
You can also get gonorrhea from casual contact, such as touching your genitals or anus after an infected person has used the toilet. You can also get it by sharing a toothbrush, using the same sex toys with multiple partners or even kissing. You can’t get gonorrhea by sharing drinks or food, hugging, touching your face, coughing or sneezing, or sitting on the same toilet seat. Using condoms or dental dams every time you have sex can help protect you from getting gonorrhea and passing it on to others. Gonorrhea is usually easy to cure with medicine, but it’s important to get treatment early. If you’re not sure whether or when you got gonorrhea, ask your nurse or doctor to test you with a swab or urine test.
It’s possible to get gonorrhea from a person with gonorrhea.
Gonorrhea spreads from person to person through unprotected vaginal, oral, or anal sex. It can also spread by sharing sex toys that haven’t been cleaned and by close genital-to-genital contact without penetration. It can also spread through the bloodstream and infect a man’s urethra or woman’s cervix (opening to the womb). The bacteria that cause gonorrhea, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, can also be transmitted by men who don’t ejaculate during sex.
Getting tested for gonorrhea is the only way to know if you or your partner have gonorrhea. You can get tested at a doctor’s office, an STI clinic, or with an at-home test kit. If you do have gonorrhea, treatment can help prevent serious and permanent health problems.
It’s important to tell your sex partners if you have gonorrhea so they can get tested and treated, too. You and your sex partner(s) should not have sex until you finish your medicine and your symptoms are gone.
Gonorrhea does not spread through casual contact, like kissing, hugging, holding hands, or sitting on a toilet seat. It also doesn’t spread through inhaling droplets, like when someone coughs or sneezes. However, it can spread through intimate contact, like putting an infected finger into the eye or touching a sore on the buttocks. Gonorrhea can also be passed from a mother to her baby during delivery, so it’s important that women infected with gonorrhea tell their healthcare team right away.
It’s possible to get gonorrhea from an object.
Gonorrhea bacteria can’t live very long outside the human body, so you can’t get it by touching objects like toilet seats or clothes. You also can’t get it from someone who has gonorrhea by kissing or hugging them. You can, however, catch gonorrhea by having anal sex or oral sex with a person who has it, and you can get it from using a sex toy that was used by a partner who had gonorrhea.
The bacteria that cause gonorrhea, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, spreads through sexual fluids such as semen and vaginal fluid. You can get it from unprotected sex, and you can also spread it by having anal or oral sex, sharing a sex toy, or using the same toothbrush. It’s possible to get gonorrhea from having a sex with an infected partner, and you can even pass it to your baby during birth if your partner has it.
Symptoms of gonorrhea are different for every person, and they depend on your reproductive anatomy. You can get a diagnosis by visiting a healthcare provider and getting tested. You can prevent gonorrhea by practicing safer sex and using condoms or dental dams when you have sex. It’s also important to get tested regularly for STIs, and to talk to your partners about using safe sex practices. Untreated gonorrhea can lead to long-term health problems.
It’s possible to get gonorrhea from a person who has gonorrhea.
Gonorrhea is spread by bacteria (Neisseria gonorrhoeae) that target warm, moist areas of the body. It spreads through unprotected sex, vaginal or anal contact, and oral sex. The bacteria can also be transmitted through nonsexual contact, such as touching the penis, mouth or anus of someone who has gonorrhea, or through birth. Women who have gonorrhea can pass it on to their babies during a vaginal delivery or C-section. People who have gonorrhea may not experience symptoms, so they can infect their sexual partners without knowing it.
A healthcare professional can test for gonorrhea by swabbing the penis, throat or rectum. They can also use a plastic speculum to examine the inside of the vagina. In men, a gonorrhea infection of the epididymis (the sac that collects sperm) can lead to infertility. In women, a gonorrhea outbreak in the cervix can cause inflammation and may interfere with fertility.
It’s important for a person who has gonorrhea to get treatment right away. A course of antibiotics can clear up the infection. It’s also important to tell sexual partners about the infection and encourage them to use a condom during sex. Leaving the infection untreated can increase the risk of complications, such as an ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage for pregnant women and a life-threatening blood infection called bacteremia for everyone else.
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