Gonorrhoea

What is it and how do you get it?

Gonorrhoea, or ‘the clap’, is a bacterial infection of the urethra (the tube you piss out of), arse, throat, or eyes.

It can be passed-on by rimming, sucking cock, fucking or getting fucked without a condom.

Rates of gonorrhoea amongst gay men in England have steadily climbed over the last ten years. In 2008, over three thousand gay men were treated for gonorrhoea in sexual health clinics in the UK.1

How do you prevent it?

Using condoms will prevent many cases of Gonorrhoea. If you wanted to reduce the risks further, you would have to use condoms for oral sex. Sucking cock carries a risk even if he doesn’t cum in your mouth.

How do you know you’ve got it?

Noticeable symptoms can include a white or greenish pus discharge from your cock and a burning sensation when you piss or cum. Infection in your arse may be noticeable by a yellowish discharge, fresh blood on your shit, mild diarrhoea, or itching and pain when shitting. Infection via your mouth can result in a sore throat and sometimes a cough. Sometimes there are no symptoms or they are too mild to be noticeable, particularly with gonorrhoea in the arse.

A sexual health clinic can test you for gonorrhoea and this should form part of routine sexual health check-ups. It is tested for by taking a urine sample or a swab from your cock and arse.

How do you treat it?

Gonorrhoea is treatable by antibiotics and is completely curable. Left untreated the body’s natural defences would normally be able to clear gonorrhoea from the system, although this would take several months (during which time the infection could be spread to other sexual partners) and be painful. In some cases, untreated gonorrhoea can spread to the prostate gland and balls, which may lead to infertility. In the worst case scenario, it could also spread throughout your body causing inflammation of the joints and septicaemia, which can, in rare cases, be fatal.

If you have gonorrhoea you should inform your recent sexual partners. It’s important that you tell any regular partner so that they can get tested and treated too. You then need to avoid sex with them until the treatment has taken effect (usually a couple of weeks) as it’s common for people to pass it back and forth to each other. If this happens you’ll need treatment again.

References:

1 Health Protection Agency Data Table. All new STI episodes made at genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics in the United Kingdom: 1998-2007.