Symptoms

The symptoms in males include a yellowish discharge from the penis, which causes painful, frequent urination. Symptoms can develop from two to thirty days after infection. A few percent of infected men have no symptoms. The infection may move into the prostate, seminal vesicles, and epididymis, causing pain and fever. Untreated, gonorrhea can lead to sterility.

Less than half the women with gonorrhea show any symptoms, or symptoms so mild they just ignore. Early symptoms include a discharge from the vagina, some discomfort in the lower abdomen, irritation of the genitals, pain or burning during urination and some abnormal bleeding. Women, who leave these symptoms untreated, develop severe complications. The infection will usually spread to the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries, causing Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID). Gonorrhea is the most common cause of female infertility.

Some early symptoms of this infection are lower abdomen pain, fever, nausea, and pain during intercourse.

In both men and women if gonorrhea is left untreated, it may spread throughout the body, affecting joints and even heart valves.