Gonorrhea

How can you get gonorrhea?

You can get gonorrhea through sex. Condoms reduce the chances of infection.

You can get gonorrhea through:

• Anal sex
• Blowjobs
• Rimming
• Jerking each other off (if you use the same hand for his and your penis)
• Fingering each other (if you also touch your own anus or penis)
• Naked cuddling or dry humping
• Kissing (if they have gonorrhea of the throat)
• Using saliva for lube (if they have gonorrhea of the throat)
• sperm that hits your eye, or rubbing your eye while there is infected sperm or saliva on your hand

What are the symptoms of gonorrhea?

A few days to 2 weeks after infection, you can get the following symptoms:

• Pain while peeing
• A burning sensation while peeing
• Discharge from your penis (pus). This is called “the clap”
• Itch or discharge from your anus
• Blood or slime in your poo and diarrhoea
• Needing to poo or pee very often
• Pain in your balls
• Throat inflammation
• Slime and fluid in your eye

Other symptoms?

Do you have other symptoms? They could be caused by something else. So it’s important to go to your GP or to the GGD. Don’t wait too long and make an appointment.

Check out the symptoms of other STDs

Getting tested for gonorrhea

If you have various sex partners, you should get tested for HIV and STDs 2 times a year. You should also do this if your partner has various sex partners.

You should also get tested for gonorrhea in these cases:

• If you have symptoms that could be caused by gonorrhea
• If you had sex with someone who has gonorrhea

Where can you get tested?

You can arrange a gonorrhea test with your GP, at the GGD or with Testlab. With Testlab you can easily arrange an STD test online. Do you have symptoms? Then make an appointment with your GP or the GGD.

How is a test done?

• You go to your GP’s practice or to the GGD and pee in a tube
• The doctor will take a sample from your anus or throat with a cotton bud. This is called a swab test.

Treating gonorrhea

To get treated for gonorrhea you usually get a shot. Do you regularly have sex with the same person? Then they will also get tested and get medication if needed.

The sooner you start treatment, the better. This way you can avoid the worst symptoms.

The treatment doesn’t prevent you from getting this STD again in the future. You can always get gonorrhea again.

Preventing gonorrhea

Always use a condom during sex. This will reduce your chances of getting or passing on gonorrhea.
Don't use saliva as lube.

Vaccine

Vaccines against gonorrhea are being worked on. In Britain, a vaccine against meningococcal B is being used as a way to reduce gonorrhea infections. This vaccine can provide up to 40 percent protection against gonorrhea.

More about the gonorrhea vaccine

What is treatment-resistant gonorrhea?

If you have gonorrhea, your doctor will treat you with antibiotics. This treatment will heal you quickly. Treatment resistance means that the gonorrhea bacterium is not sensitive to certain antibiotic anymore. In the Netherlands, treatment-resistant gonorrhea has not yet been found. It has been found abroad, for example in the United Kingdom. But it’s not very common there either. 

Healing

Treatment-resistant gonorrhea can’t be cured with the antibiotics you would normally get. But it can still be treated. There are other types of antibiotics that can be used. So if you were the first person in the Netherlands to get treatment-resistant gonorrhea, it doesn’t mean you could never heal from it! 

Do you still have symptoms of gonorrhea after your treatment? Then always go back to your doctor.