Last Updated on July 29, 2021 by Stacy Sampson, DO
Gonorrhea STI/STD Brief
These briefs are intended to give readers (specifically those who weren’t aware many of these STIs/STDs existed) an overview of each STI/STD, their commonality, treatment options, and diagnostic tests available.
This information is by no means all-encompassing and The STI Project encourages using these briefs as primers and then further delving into the resources section when subsequent questions arise.
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Gonorrhea Symptoms, Test & Treatment
Common? Quite common – Around 600,000-700,000 people contract it in the U.S. annually
Symptoms Usually none! Sometimes, abdominal pain, bleeding between periods, fever, painful intercourse, painful urination, pus-like discharge, throwing-up, swelling or tenderness of the vulva, anal itching, painful bowel movements. Sometimes itching or soreness in the throat
Cure? Antibiotics
Bacterial/Viral/ Fungal/Parasitic Bacterial
Test Cell samples, discharge samples, or urine samples
Life-Long? No
Life-Threatening? No, but left untreated, it can be a serious health risk causing infertility, arthritis, pelvic inflammatory disease, epididymitis, disseminated gonococcal infection, premature labor, and stillbirth as well as the risk of being passed to the fetus
- How to Not Give an Eff about Having an STI
- Gonorrhea In-Depth
- Think You Might Have an STI/STD?
- Detailed Gonorrhea Symptoms
- Pictures of Gonorrhea
- Looking for more information about gonorrhea?
- Looking for STI testing centers, gonorrhea treatment, STI hotlines, or STI blogs and forums?
- Would you like to read stories about people living with an STI/STD?
References
- Symptoms
- Shover, Chelsea L., et al. “Accuracy of Presumptive Gonorrhea Treatment for Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men: Results from a Large Sexual Health Clinic in Los Angeles, California.” LGBT health2 (2018): 139-144.
- Orr, Tamra B. Gonorrhea. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc, 2015.
- Bonyah, E., et al. “Modelling the effects of heavy alcohol consumption on the transmission dynamics of gonorrhea with optimal control.” Mathematical biosciences 309 (2019): 1-11.
- Moyosore, Adebisi Temitayo. “Adolescent Sexual Development and Sexually Transmittted Infections.” International STD Research & Reviews (2016): 1-11.
- Elawad, N. A. M. “Situation of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in Sudan.” Adv Reprod Sci Reprod Health In-fertil: ARRHI-102. DOI 10 (2018).
- Testing
- Reekie, Joanne, et al. “Risk of pelvic inflammatory disease in relation to chlamydia and gonorrhea testing, repeat testing, and positivity: a population-based cohort study.” Clinical Infectious Diseases 66.3 (2018): 437-443.
- Wang, Li Yan, et al. “Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Chlamydia, and Gonorrhea Testing in New York Medicaid–Enrolled Adolescents.” Sexually transmitted diseases 45.1 (2018): 14-18.
- Pittman, Ellen, et al. “Patient Acceptability and Feasibility of Self-Collecting Genital Samples for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Testing in a Community Setting Using Privacy Shelters.” Journal of Adolescent Health 58.2 (2016): S107-S108.
- Hoots, Brooke E., et al. “Self-reported chlamydia and gonorrhea testing and diagnosis among men who have sex with men—20 US cities, 2011 and 2014.” Sexually transmitted diseases 45.7 (2018): 469-475.
- McRee, Annie‐Laurie, Allahna Esber, and Paul L. Reiter. “Acceptability of Home‐Based Chlamydia And Gonorrhea Testing Among a National Sample Of Sexual Minority Young Adults.” Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health 47.1 (2015): 3-10.
- Treatment
- Kerani, Roxanne P., et al. “Gonorrhea treatment practices in the STD Surveillance Network, 2010–2012.” Sexually transmitted diseases 42.1 (2015): 6-12.
- Weston, Emily J., et al. “Adherence to CDC recommendations for the treatment of uncomplicated gonorrhea—STD Surveillance Network, United States, 2016.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 67.16 (2018): 473.
- Hook III, Edward W., et al. “Efficacy and Safety of Single-Dose Oral Delafloxacin Compared With Intramuscular Ceftriaxone for Uncomplicated Gonorrhea Treatment: An Open-Label, Noninferiority, Phase 3, Multicenter, Randomized Study.” Sexually transmitted diseases 46.5 (2019): 279-286.
- Long, Jill E., Michael R. Wierzbicki, and Edward W. Hook III. “Impact of eligibility criteria on participant enrollment for a randomized clinical trial of gonorrhea treatment.” Sexually transmitted diseases 44.6 (2017): 362.
- Singh, Ameeta E., et al. “Gonorrhea treatment failures with oral and injectable expanded spectrum cephalosporin monotherapy vs dual therapy at 4 Canadian sexually transmitted infection clinics, 2010–2013.” Sexually transmitted diseases 42.6 (2015): 331-336.
- Prevention
- Handsfield, H. Hunter. “Gonorrhea Prevention in the United States: Where Do We Go From Here?.” (2016): 731-732.
- Kirkcaldy, Robert D., et al. “Considering the Potential Application of Whole Genome Sequencing to Gonorrhea Prevention and Control.” Sexually transmitted diseases 45.6 (2018): e29-e32.
- Bowen, Virginia B., et al. “Gonorrhea.” Current Epidemiology Reports 4.1 (2017): 1-10.
- Spicknall, Ian H., et al. “Assessing Uncertainty in an Anatomical Site-Specific Gonorrhea Transmission Model of Men Who Have Sex With Men.” Sexually transmitted diseases 46.5 (2019): 321-328.
- Spicknall, Ian H., et al. “Assessing Uncertainty in an Anatomical Site-Specific Gonorrhea Transmission Model of Men Who Have Sex With Men.” Sexually transmitted diseases 46.5 (2019): 321-328.
- Transmission
- Fairley, Christopher K., et al. “Frequent transmission of gonorrhea in men who have sex with men.” Emerging infectious diseases 23.1 (2017): 102.
- Spicknall, Ian H., et al. “Assessing Uncertainty in an Anatomical Site-Specific Gonorrhea Transmission Model of Men Who Have Sex With Men.” Sexually transmitted diseases 46.5 (2019): 321-328.
- Tuite, Ashleigh R., et al. “Impact of rapid susceptibility testing and antibiotic selection strategy on the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance in gonorrhea.” The Journal of infectious diseases 216.9 (2017): 1141-1149.
- Bonyah, E., et al. “Modelling the effects of heavy alcohol consumption on the transmission dynamics of gonorrhea with optimal control.” Mathematical biosciences 309 (2019): 1-11.
- Ndeffo-Mbah, Martial L., et al. “Dynamic models of infectious disease transmission in prisons and the general population.” Epidemiologic reviews 40.1 (2018): 40-57.
