Testing for Gonorrhea

FAQ About Gonorrhea Testing

Could you have contracted gonorrhea at some point? Don’t worry; you can still protect your sexual health. Making informed decisions starts by understanding the process of testing for gonorrhea and whether an STD test might be important in your situation.

Gonorrhea is a very common STD, especially in young people between the ages of 15 and 24. It spreads through vaginal, anal, and oral sex and often does not produce any symptoms in the infected individuals. A gonorrhea test is an important step in preventing complications and stopping the spread of this infection to other sexual partners, even if you don't have symptoms.

Untreated gonorrhea can cause serious health problems. However, the right treatment can completely cure this STD. Learn more below about the infection, taking a rapid STD test as a first line of defense, and how you can best protect yourself against experiencing complications from gonorrhea.

Why Gonorrhea Testing is Crucial for Sexual Health

Identifying STDs quickly is vital to preventing health risks and stopping the spread to other sexual partners. Testing for gonorrhea is important because of how common this infection is among the sexually active. 

Gonorrhea impacts more than 700,000 people annually within the United States, spreading quickly through all types of sexual contact. Part of why it spreads so easily is that infected individuals are often asymptomatic.

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Women May Not Show Symptoms of Gonorrhea or Mistake Them For UTIs

Most women who contract gonorrhea will have no symptoms or only experience mild gonorrhea symptoms that are easily mistaken for a vaginal infection or UTI.

If symptoms are present, the most common gonorrhea symptoms in women include the following:

  • Increased vaginal discharge
  • A painful or burning sensation when urinating 
  • Vaginal bleeding between periods

Men Show Gonorrhea Symptoms That Are Mild to Severe Or May Be Asymptomatic

Men can also experience asymptomatic gonorrhea. However, most men will have symptoms and typically experience any or all of the following:

  • A burning sensation while peeing
  • Discharge from the penis
  • Painful or swollen testicles

Still, as many as 90% of cases of gonorrhea are asymptomatic, which means that if you contract gonorrhea, you may have no physical signs of the STD. You may also be unaware that your sexual partner has or had gonorrhea, as they may not know themselves.

Tests for Gonorrhea Are Easy and Necessary

Why undergo testing for gonorrhea along with other common STDs in a 10-panel STD test? Firstly, it will ensure you don’t overlook this serious condition if you don’t know that you have it. 

The Centers for Disease Control recommends a testing frequency of once per year for the following individuals, even without symptoms: 

  • Sexually active women, transgender women, or people with cervixes younger than 25
  • Men or individuals with penises who have sex with men
  • People who have sex with individuals who have sex with others
  • People who don't use condoms correctly every time

In women, untreated gonorrhea can spread to cause pelvic inflammatory disease and damage the fallopian tubes. In men, it leads to epididymitis (infection of the testicles) and infertility. It also spreads to the blood, causing disseminated gonococcal infection that may be life-threatening. 

Types of Gonorrhea Tests: What To Expect

Testing yourself for gonorrhea would be a good idea if you have recently had sex with a new partner and are unsure of their sexual health status or risk factors listed above. Depending on the type of gonorrhea test you choose, you may need to provide a sample of one of the following fluids:

  • Urine
  • Fluid swabbed from an infected urethra, cervix, vagina, throat, or rectum

To prepare for either of these tests, talk to your doctor about stopping any antibiotics you're taking (some antibiotics can interfere with your gonorrhea test results). Also, be sure to avoid douching or applying vaginal creams for at least 24 hours before your test appointment for accurate results.

Despite the discomfort of talking about it, being open with your healthcare provider can improve the accuracy of your STD test results. Share which parts of your body are involved when you have sex so that your healthcare provider can determine the best place to take the sample from. 

A March 2023 meta-analysis in The Annals of Family Medicine showed that urine tests were slightly less accurate than vaginal swabs, but both were above 90% accurate and worth taking.

Urine Tests for Gonorrhea

Urine testing for gonorrhea is a common method that relies on a first-catch urine sample (the urine from the very first part of your urine stream). Your healthcare provider may advise you to stop urinating for at least two hours before the test. Then, they’ll provide you with a sterile cup to collect the first-catch urine.

Typically, lab technicians can identify gonorrhea in urine in a few different ways. The most common is a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT), which looks for the genetic material of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacterium. This bacterium causes gonorrhea infection. 

However, if your healthcare provider suspects you have an antibiotic-resistant strain of gonorrhea, they may order a bacteria culture test instead.

Swab Tests for Gonorrhea

Many healthcare providers recommend a swab test instead of a urine test because they are slightly more accurate. Your healthcare provider will use a cotton swab to collect a sample from the infected area, such as the vagina, urethra, cervix, rectum, or throat. You may be able to swab the area yourself.

The lab will process the swab test in the same way they would a urine test: through nucleic acid amplification. 

At-Home Tests for Gonorrhea

You may also be able to test for gonorrhea through an at-home STD test. With this kit, you would collect a urine sample or swab sample according to specific instructions, package it, and ship it to a lab. The lab would process the sample and either call or email your results through to you. 

At-home tests are convenient, but they aren’t as accurate as tests from a healthcare provider. For example, you risk collecting the sample incorrectly and getting a false negative. If you don't have symptoms and your gonorrhea does not show up on the STD test, you also risk letting it progress into a condition like epididymitis or pelvic inflammatory disease.

If you want fast and convenient results from a gonorrhea test, it’s better to schedule same-day STD testing with service providers like Rapid STD Testing. You'll receive your results in as little as two business days.

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Gonorrhea Treatment and Post-Test Steps

If you’d like to prevent health complications, testing for gonorrhea after exposure is a great start. You might have to wait two weeks for it to show up on the tests, but this will depend on which type of test your healthcare provider advises. 

After your test, your healthcare provider will share your results within a few days or up to two weeks. A positive result means the Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacterium was present in the sample you submitted. If so, your primary healthcare provider will start you on antibiotic treatment right away to kill the bacteria.

The most common treatment for gonorrhea is a single dose of 500 mg of intramuscular ceftriaxone, which your healthcare provider would need to administer. After getting the shot, you should avoid sexual contact for at least seven days to give the treatment time to work. You should also inform any sexual partners you have had from the previous 60 days about your gonorrhea diagnosis and urge them to take a test.

Three months after completing your treatment, you will also need to conduct a test-of-cure to verify that the gonorrhea treatment eradicated the bacteria.

Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea

Unfortunately, the prevalence of gonorrhea has led to a mutation that resists the antibiotics that are commonly used to treat it. Few other antibiotics are as effective as ceftriaxone, and researchers are growing concerned about the drug-resistant class of gonorrhea in the nation’s bid to control this STD’s spread. In fact, in January 2023, public health officials discovered two cases of gonorrhea that had reduced susceptibility to every known antibiotic treatment. 

Antibiotic resistance is a real problem in the treatment of gonorrhea. That’s why it’s so important to complete your full round of antibiotics and follow your healthcare provider's instructions.

The Risk of Reinfection

Reinfection is common in people who contract gonorrhea because it’s often asymptomatic, and sexual partners pass it back and forth unknowingly. However, if you follow your prescribed treatment regimen closely, re-test after three months, and take steps to stop the spread of STDs, your risk of reinfection will be low. 

Stay Informed About Your Sexual Health With Rapid STD Testing

Do you meet one of the risk factors above for gonorrhea? Has your partner recently exposed you? Now is the time to seek gonorrhea testing. 

Delaying testing could lead to irreversible health complications, and gonorrhea testing is painless and easy. You can receive your results within just a few business days for common STDs like gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis. Testing is an important step in staying informed about your sexual health and can empower you to make more informed decisions to protect your health and well-being. 

At Rapid STD Testing, we make testing for gonorrhea simple. Order your same-day STD test today, and we'll match you with a lab near you where you can receive fast results or begin treatment. You can also visit our blog to learn answers to questions about gonorrhea, like  "How long can gonorrhea stay dormant?"

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