How long treatment gonorrhea

Diagnosis To determine whether you have gonorrhea, your doctor will analyze a sample of cells. Samples can be collected by: Urine test. This can help identify bacteria in your urethra.

Swab of affected area. A swab of your throat, urethra, vagina or rectum can collect bacteria that can be identified in a lab. Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic. Share on: Facebook Twitter. Show references Gonorrhea: CDC fact sheet detailed version. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed Sept. Ghanem KG. Although medication will stop the infection, it will not undo any permanent damage caused by the disease.

It is becoming harder to treat some gonorrhea, as drug-resistant strains of gonorrhea are increasing. If your symptoms continue for more than a few days after receiving treatment, you should return to a health care provider to be checked again.

You should wait seven days after finishing all medications before having sex. To avoid getting infected with gonorrhea again or spreading gonorrhea to your partner s , you and your sex partner s should avoid having sex until you have each completed treatment. Untreated gonorrhea can cause serious and permanent health problems in both women and men.

In women, untreated gonorrhea can cause pelvic inflammatory disease PID. Some of the complications of PID are. In men, gonorrhea can cause a painful condition in the tubes attached to the testicles. In rare cases, this may cause a man to be sterile, or prevent him from being able to father a child.

Rarely, untreated gonorrhea can also spread to your blood or joints. This condition can be life-threatening. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Section Navigation. It's easier to prevent an STI than it is to treat one:. Ask your doctor for more information.

Call anytime you think you may need emergency care. For example, call if:. Call your doctor or nurse call line now or seek immediate medical care if:. Watch closely for changes in your health, and be sure to contact your doctor or nurse call line if:. Enter C in the search box to learn more about "Gonorrhea: Care Instructions". Author: Healthwise Staff.

Kiley MD - Obstetrics and Gynecology. Care instructions adapted under license by your healthcare professional. If you have questions about a medical condition or this instruction, always ask your healthcare professional. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.

It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again. Important Phone Numbers. Topic Contents Overview How can you care for yourself at home? 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. 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. 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 exam 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. Counseling or a support group may help you feel better. 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. 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:. Women with untreated gonorrhea and infected newborns are more likely to develop long-term complications of gonorrhea. 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 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.

Low-cost diagnosis and treatment of gonorrhea is usually available at local health departments and family planning clinics, such as Planned Parenthood. Some people are not comfortable seeing their usual doctor for sexually transmitted infection treatment. Most counties have confidential clinics for diagnosing and treating gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted infections.

Diagnosis of gonorrhea includes a medical history and a physical exam. Your doctor may ask you the following questions. Several gonorrhea tests can be used to detect or confirm an infection.