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Symptoms: Men have symptoms more often than women, though women may have gonorrhea even without symptoms.
For men, symptoms may include a discharge of pus from the penis, burning or pain while urinating, urinating more often than usual and/or pain and swelling of the testicles. It is also possible for men to have no symptoms at all.
Women should be on the lookout for abnormal discharge that is yellowish or bloody, as well as pain or burning during urination.
If gonorrhea is left untreated in women, the disease may develop into pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Symptoms of this include lower back pain, lower abdominal pain, bleeding between periods, nausea, fever or pain during sex.
For both women and men, it is possible to have an anal infection as well or instead. Symptoms of anal infection are not noticeable in 90% of the people who have it, but if present, they may include anal itching, discharge and pain during defecation.
Gonorrhea may also infect the eye, which results in conjunctivitis-which is inflammation of the eyelid lining. Symptoms of conjunctivitis include redness, itching and discharge from the eye.
If a mother has passed gonorrhea on to her newborn infant, symptoms may include conjunctivitis and pneumonia, which usually develops 5-12 days after birth. |