If you have symptoms of gonorrhea, including a burning sensation when you pee and sores in your genital area, make an appointment to see your doctor. You and your partner should avoid sex until you’re both treated. It’s also important to use a condom during oral sex.
Gonorrhea is spread through vaginal, anal, and oral sex. You can’t get it from hugging, sharing food or drink, swimming pools, or using the same toilet seat.
Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease
Gonorrhea is an STD caused by bacteria, and it’s spread during sex. It’s the second most common STI in the US, after chlamydia. It affects about 1.14 million people each year, and most of them are ages 15 to 24.
You can get gonorrhea by touching an infected person’s penis, vagina, mouth, or throat. It can also spread through anal sex, although this is less common. Women who have gonorrhea can pass it to their baby during a vaginal delivery. However, babies born by C-section are not at risk of getting it from their mothers.
The symptoms of gonorrhea include unusual vaginal discharge, pain or burning when you pee, and a swollen labia majora (buttocks). Men may also experience a painful or swollen penis and a rash on their testicles.
Treatment for gonorrhea is an antibiotic, usually a single shot in the doctor’s office. It’s important to finish the full course of treatment, even if you don’t have any symptoms. It’s also important to tell all of your sexual partners about your infection and have them take an antibiotic, too.
Some cases of gonorrhea have become resistant to certain antibiotics. This type of gonorrhea is called “super gonorrhea,” and it’s much harder to treat. Infections that are resistant to antibiotics are not curable and may recur. To prevent antibiotic resistance, it’s important to use condoms during all sexual activity and have regular STI screenings.
It’s not a serious infection
Gonorrhea is a common sexually transmitted disease (STI). It spreads through vaginal fluid or semen and can be spread by anal sex, oral sex or the sharing of sex toys. It can also be passed to babies during childbirth. It is very important to get tested for gonorrhea and other STIs regularly. It is recommended that all sexually active people are tested and treated with a nucleic acid test (DNA) or a laboratory culture. People who have gonorrhea should inform all of their partners and wait until they have completed treatment and no longer have symptoms before having sex again.
If left untreated, gonorrhea can lead to serious long-term health problems. These include genital infections, a condition called pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), and infertility. PID causes symptoms like pain and itching low in the abdomen, chills, and fever. It can also cause inflammation of the fallopian tubes, cervix, and uterus in women and an infection called epididymitis in men.
A course of antibiotics can cure gonorrhea. A doctor will prescribe a combination of ceftriaxone and azithromycin, or another antibacterial drug. Some strains of gonorrhea have developed resistance to certain antibiotics. It is very important to take all of the medication that your doctor gives you. You should wait seven days after finishing your antibiotics before having sex. This will prevent you and your partner from giving or getting gonorrhea again.
It’s curable
Gonorrhea is curable with antibiotics, and symptoms often go away within a few days. However, if it’s not treated early, it can lead to serious health problems. These include pelvic inflammatory disease, which increases the risk of ectopic pregnancy in women and can cause serious abdominal pain. It can also cause scarring of the fallopian tubes, which can cause infertility in women. It can even cause a life-threatening blood infection, if it spreads to the lungs or heart.
People typically get gonorrhea when they have unprotected sex. The bacteria spread when semen or vaginal fluids come into contact with each other. It can enter the body through the penis, anus, or mouth and throat. The bacteria can also spread by sharing sex toys that haven’t been washed or covered with a condom. It can also spread by touching an infected person’s skin or eyes.
The surest way to protect against gonorrhea is to abstain from sexual activity. You can also reduce your risk by using condoms and spermicide. It’s best to use latex male condoms, which are more effective than rubber ones. It’s also important to limit the number of sexual partners you have, and to get tested regularly. Symptoms of gonorrhea should be reported to your doctor right away. Infections that aren’t treated quickly can lead to serious complications, including ectopic pregnancy in women and epididymitis in men.
It’s not harmful to babies
Gonorrhea is spread when a person has unprotected sex. This can happen when a man and woman have anal, vaginal or oral sex, or share sex toys. It can also be passed from mother to baby during childbirth. People infected with gonorrhea do not usually show any symptoms, so they can easily infect their sexual partners. This is why it’s important to use condoms during sex and to get tested for the infection regularly.
Women infected with gonorrhea during pregnancy may have problems including pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). This condition causes painful urination and can lead to internal abscesses, which are hard to treat. It can also increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy, in which a fertilized egg grows outside the uterus. Women with PID may need to have their fallopian tubes removed, which can cause infertility.
Babies born to mothers with gonorrhea or chlamydia may have eye infections and other health problems. They can also suffer from pneumonia, a serious illness that can be deadly for newborns. Infections from gonorrhea and chlamydia are spread in the same way as other bacterial STIs, which is why it’s so important to use protection and get tested regularly.
Those who have been diagnosed with gonorrhea or chrolamydia should inform their sex partners immediately. This will allow them to receive immediate treatment and prevent the spread of the infection to others. In addition, it’s important to avoid sex until you and your partner have both completed the course of antibiotics and are completely free of symptoms.