Gonorrhea: the common STI that often has no symptoms
Last updated September 3, 2026.
Gonorrhea is the common sexually transmitted bacterial infection: often causing no symptoms at all (especially in women), and otherwise the discharge, the burning urination, or the pelvic-or-testicular pain. It is cured with the antibiotic injection, but the untreated kind causes the real harm (the pelvic inflammatory disease, the infertility, the pregnancy problems), which is why the testing after the unprotected sex matters even when you feel fine.
What are the symptoms?
Half of the women and about one-in-ten men get no symptoms at all. When they come (the 1-to-2 weeks after, sometimes later): the yellow-or-green vaginal or penile discharge, the burning on the urination, the pelvic or the lower-abdominal pain, the bleeding between the periods or after the sex, the testicular pain-or-swelling, and the rectal-or-throat infection symptoms after the anal-or-oral sex (the discharge, the soreness: the often-symptomless too). The no-symptoms kind carries and transmits just the same.
How do you get it?
The unprotected vaginal, anal, or oral sex with the infected partner (no ejaculation needed), and the mother-to-baby at the delivery (the eye infection: the reason for the routine newborn eye care). It does not come from the toilet seats, the towels, or the kissing. The re-infection after the treatment is common when the partner is not treated: the ping-pong.
How is it tested and treated?
- The test: the urine sample or the swab (the self-taken kind at the clinics), the results in the days; the full STI screen usually done together (the chlamydia co-infection is common).
- The treatment: the single antibiotic injection (the ceftriaxone) in most cases, sometimes plus the oral antibiotic: the cure within the days, with the no-sex-until-finished-and-partner-treated rule.
- The partners: the recent partners need the testing-and-treatment (the clinics do the confidential partner-notification if you prefer), and the re-test at the 3 months is recommended (the re-infection is common).
- The resistance: the gonorrhea has grown resistant to the older antibiotics (why the current injection is used and why the persistent symptoms after the treatment get re-tested).
When does it need the prompt care?
The prompt (the days) for the symptoms-or-exposure testing; the same-day for: the severe pelvic pain with the fever (the pelvic inflammatory disease), the testicular pain-swelling (the epididymitis: and the sudden severe kind is the different emergency, the torsion), or the pregnancy with the symptoms. Pymander's escalation routing is built and tested specifically for this class of decision; see the safety architecture working paper.
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Common questions
I feel fine. Could I still have it?
Yes: about half of the infected women (and about one-in-ten men) have no symptoms at all, the no-symptoms kind still damages (the pelvic inflammatory disease and the fertility harm happen silently), and it still transmits. The exposure plus the feeling-fine is exactly the case for the testing, not the waiting.
What does the test involve?
The easy kind: the urine sample or the swab (the self-taken vaginal swab at most clinics: no speculum needed for the routine screening), the throat-and-rectal swabs added when the exposure was oral-or-anal, the results within the days, and the full STI screen done at the same visit (the chlamydia, the HIV, and the syphilis testing are usually offered together).
How is it treated?
The single antibiotic injection (the ceftriaxone) for most, sometimes with the oral antibiotic added: the cure within the days. The old pills-only treatments stopped working (the resistance), which is why the injection is now standard, and why the symptoms persisting after the treatment get the re-test rather than the repeat guesswork.
Will it affect my fertility?
The treated kind, no; the untreated kind, yes: the gonorrhea ascending to the tubes (the pelvic inflammatory disease) is the preventable cause of the infertility and the ectopic-pregnancy risk, and the silent infections are exactly the ones that ascend untreated. The testing-and-treating promptly is the fertility protection, which is the real reason the exposure-alerts matter.
Do my partners need to know?
The recent partners (the look-back period the clinic advises, usually the 60 days) need the testing-and-treatment, because the untreated partner re-infects you (the ping-pong is the commonest reason for the repeat positives). The clinic can do the confidential partner-notification (the no-name-given kind) if you would rather not make the call yourself.
How do I avoid it next time?
The condoms, consistently (the big risk-reduction, not the elimination), the mutual testing before the new-partner unprotected sex, and the regular screening when the partners change (the annual-or-more kind for the under-25s and the new-partner phases). The re-test at the 3 months after any positive (the re-infection is common enough that it is the standard recommendation).