STI Testing in 2024: Free, Low Cost, At-Home, and More
How Long Does It Take For Gonorrhea To Show Up?
Gonorrhea has a relatively short incubation period. You can usually get a reliable test result if you wait until at least 2 weeks pass since the suspected exposure.
Gonorrhea is usually asymptomatic. If symptoms do occur, they may be mild or nonspecific, meaning you may not realize a sexually transmitted infection (STI) like gonorrhea causes them.
In some cases, you can take the antibiotic doxycycline as a postexposure prophylaxis (Doxy-PEP) to help reduce the chance of infection. Think of it as a "morning-after pill" for bacterial STIs.
Doxy-PEP is available by prescription only, and you need to take it within 72 hours for it to work. A typical dose is one 200-milligram (mg) pill.
After exposure, it usually takes up to 14 days for gonorrhea to show up on an STI test. This is called a "window period."
Healthcare professionals usually diagnose gonorrhea through a urine test or by testing a fluid sample. You may receive your results within a few days, depending on the clinic and lab you use.
You can also use an at-home gonorrhea test if you prefer.
Gonorrhea left untreated can lead to complications like inflammation and scarring in your reproductive system. This can lead to infertility.
Untreated gonorrhea can also cause:
If you think you have gonorrhea, the first step is to make an appointment with a healthcare professional for a test. Our FindCare tool can help you find a primary care doctor.
You can also access free or lower cost STI diagnosis and treatment at:
It's important to note that gonorrhea is treatable — but over-the-counter or home remedies don't treat it.
What are the first noticeable signs of gonorrhea?If you develop gonorrhea symptoms, the first signs might include:
How soon can gonorrhea be detected?The incubation period for gonorrhea is 1–14 days. If a gonorrhea test is negative, you may have gonorrhea but only experienced exposure in the past few days.
If you've recently had sex with a new partner, it may be a good idea to get tested again in a couple of weeks.
How long can you carry gonorrhea without knowing?You can go months without developing symptoms of gonorrhea. Some people never experience symptoms — but asymptomatic carriers can still pass gonorrhea on to others.
Can gonorrhea go away by itself?No, the symptoms of gonorrhea may sometimes disappear and come back. But gonorrhea itself can't clear up on its own. Gonorrhea is treatable with prescription antibiotics, which usually clear up the infection.
If you think you've experienced exposure to gonorrhea within the last 72 hours, contact a healthcare professional and ask whether you could take doxy-PEP to prevent infection.
Gonorrhea can show up in as little as 1 day to 1 week after infection, but it can also take longer for symptoms to appear. Some people carry gonorrhea without experiencing symptoms.
Whether or not you have symptoms, gonorrhea doesn't go away on its own. It's important to get tested for gonorrhea so that you can access treatment.
Sian Ferguson is a freelance health and cannabis writer based in Cape Town, South Africa. She's passionate about empowering readers to take care of their mental and physical health through science-based, empathetically delivered information.
Signs Of Anxiety In Men
Nearly one out of five adults will be affected by anxiety in their lifetime. While men aren't as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety, that could be in part because they have different signs of it. Women are more likely to internalize emotions, but men will externalize them, leading to aggressive, impulsive, and combative behavior.Men are also more likely to have strained relationships with friends and family because of excessive worry. Also, men might turn to alcohol or drugs as a coping mechanism, leading to substance misuse. Other signs of anxiety for all genders include being restless, irritable, having fatigue, trouble concentrating, trouble sleeping, and not able to control worrying. If you spot these signs, you should talk to a doctor.
Treatment might focus on rewarding good actions and directing toward non-aggressive and non-destructive choices. You can make some life changes to help as well. Getting exercise, being social with friends and family, and staying away from drugs and alcohol can help ease anxiety. ","publisher":"WebMD Video"} ]]>
Hide Video Transcript
SPEAKER
Nearly one out of five adults will be affected by anxiety in their lifetime. While men aren't as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety, that could be in part because they have different signs of it. Women are more likely to internalize emotions, but men will externalize them, leading to aggressive, impulsive, and combative behavior.Men are also more likely to have strained relationships with friends and family because of excessive worry. Also, men might turn to alcohol or drugs as a coping mechanism, leading to substance misuse. Other signs of anxiety for all genders include being restless, irritable, having fatigue, trouble concentrating, trouble sleeping, and not able to control worrying. If you spot these signs, you should talk to a doctor.
Treatment might focus on rewarding good actions and directing toward non-aggressive and non-destructive choices. You can make some life changes to help as well. Getting exercise, being social with friends and family, and staying away from drugs and alcohol can help ease anxiety.
5 Reasons Gonorrhea Is Becoming More Difficult To Treat
The front page picture of The Star newspaper released into the market on Thursday, January 12, 2023 featured significantly on Kenyans' WhatsApp and social media statuses.
The newspaper's lead story was titled 'Super gonorrhea strikes Nairobians', with the report stating that the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) was concerned about the increase in the number of gonorrhea cases that are becoming more difficult to treat among city dwellers.
Typical of Kenyans, they took to social media to warn their friends and followers that reckless sex was becoming costlier by the day.
Many captioned the front-page image with the Swahili words "soko ni chafu", to mean "more and more people have STIs out here", and, therefore, caution is needed when engaging in sexual intercourse, especially with new partners.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a recent report that in 2020, there were 82.4 million new gonorrhea infections among adolescents and adults aged 15 to 49 years worldwide, with most of the cases registered in Africa and the western Pacific regions.
Gonorrhea is the second most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) after chlamydia.
In 2020, the WHO said there were 129 million new chlamydia infections in the world, followed by gonorrhea at 82.4 million.
In total, there were 374 million new STIs registered that year, with trichomoniasis leading with 156 million cases. Syphilis new infections that year were 7.1 million globally.
The WHO says that more than one million STIs are acquired every day worldwide, the majority of which are asymptomatic.
Gonorrhea, one of the commonest STIs in Africa, is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
It infects the mucous membranes of the reproductive tract, including the cervix, uterus, and fallopian tubes in women, and the urethra in women and men.
The bacterium can also infect the mucous membranes of the mouth, throat, eyes, and rectum.
Symptoms
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says gonorrhea is transmitted through sexual contact with the penis, vagina, mouth, or anus of an infected partner.
Ejaculation does not have to occur for gonorrhea to be transmitted or acquired. Gonorrhea can also be spread perinatally from mother to baby during childbirth.
The signs of gonorrhea infection among men include a white, yellow, or green smelly urethral discharge that usually appears one to 14 days after infection, a burning pain when passing urine, testicular or scrotal pain.
Most women with gonorrhea are asymptomatic. Even when a woman has symptoms, they are often so mild and nonspecific that they are mistaken for a bladder or vaginal infection, the CDC says.
The initial symptoms in women include increased vaginal discharge, or vaginal bleeding between periods. Women with gonorrhea are at risk of developing serious complications from the infection, regardless of the presence or severity of symptoms, says the CDC.
Serious health problems
Untreated gonorrhea can cause serious and permanent health problems in both women and men.
In women, gonorrhea can spread into the uterus or fallopian tubes and cause pelvic inflammatory disease, which can lead to internal abscesses and chronic pelvic pain. PID can also damage the fallopian tubes enough to cause infertility or increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy.
In men, untreated gonorrhea may lead to infertility. It can also spread to the blood and cause arthritis, tenosynovitis, and/or dermatitis, which can be life-threatening, says the CDC.
Gonorrhea can be diagnosed by testing urine, urethral specimen for men, or endocervical or vaginal specimen for women. It can also be diagnosed using gonorrhea culture, which requires endocervical or urethral swab specimens.
'Super gonorrhea'
Gonorrhea treatment has been effective over the years, though of late, the disease has become more resistant to drugs.
Dr. Teodora Wi, the WHO Medical Officer specialising in STIs, says the drug-resistant gonorrhea is now famously known as super gonorrhea.
"When we say 'super gonorrhea' we mean 'gonorrhea superbug'. These are extensively drug-resistant gonorrhea with high-level resistance to the current recommended treatment for gonorrhea (ceftriaxone and azithromycin) including resistance to penicillin, sulphonamides, tetracycline, fluoroquinolones, macrolides," said Dr. Wi as quoted by the WHO official website.
Why gonorrhea is resisting treatment
According to Dr. Wi, there are five reasons for the increased drug-resistance in gonorrhea treatment.
The reasons are unrestricted access to antimicrobials (products that kill or slow the spread of microorganisms), inappropriate selection and overuse of antibiotics, poor quality antibiotics, inherent genetic mutations within the organism which have contributed to the development of a pattern of resistance, and extra-genital infections (infections in the anus, throat and eyes).
Compared to other STIs such as syphilis, gonorrhea has the highest level of drug-resistance, the WHO says.
"The first line treatment of Benzathine penicillin remains highly effective, there has been evidence of resistance to azithromycin," said Dr. Wi.
Dr. Wi further said gonorrhea is extremely cruel to the reproductive system if left untreated.
If left untreated, gonorrhea exposes one to a five-fold increase of HIV transmission, infertility, inflammation; leading to acute and chronic lower abdominal pain in women, ectopic pregnancy and maternal death, first trimester abortion; and severe neonatal eye infections that may lead to blindness, said Dr. Wi.
Adults with gonorrhea are treated with a combined dose of antibiotics. Due to emerging strains of drug-resistant gonorrhea, the CDC recommends that uncomplicated gonorrhea be treated with the antibiotic ceftriaxone - given as an injection - with oral azithromycin (Zithromax).
If you're allergic to ceftriaxone, you might be given oral gemifloxacin (Factive) or injectable gentamicin and oral azithromycin.
"Increasing resistance to the last-line treatment for gonorrhea, poses a big challenge because it limits the treatment choices available for gonorrhea infections. The development of resistance clearly outpaces the development of new antibiotics. There is an urgent need to develop new treatment options for gonorrhea," says WHO's Dr. Teodora Wi.
Using a condom or other barrier method when engaging in sex can help lower one's chances of transmitting or contracting gonorrhea.
These barrier methods, however, won't always completely eliminate the risk of infection, especially if they aren't used properly.
Comments
Post a Comment