Gonorrhea Needs to Be Treated Right Away

Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease (STD). It is a bacterial infection of the urethra in men and the urethra, cervix, or both in women. Gonorrhea can also infect the rectum, anus, throat, pelvic organs, and, in rare cases, the conjunctiva, which is the membrane that lines the eyelid and eye surface.

Gonorrhea can cause serious health problems.

• 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). And PID can cause infertility or ectopic pregnancy.
• For a man, untreated gonorrhea may increase the risk of bladder cancer.

You may hear some people refer to gonorrhea as the clap, drip, or GC.

What causes gonorrhea?
Gonorrhea is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. It can be spread during vaginal, anal, or oral sex with an infected partner. You have a high risk of getting infected when your partner has gonorrhea and you have sex without a condom.

With or without symptoms, an infected sex partner can give you gonorrhea until he or she has been treated.

A pregnant woman may pass the infection to her newborn during delivery.

Having a gonorrhea infection once does not protect you from getting another infection in the future. A new exposure to gonorrhea will cause a new infection, even if you were previously treated and cured. This is why it is so important for your partner to be treated when you are.