Gonorrhea Treatment

Gonorrhea can be cured.

Once you are diagnosed with gonorrhea, the good news is that is can be easily and effectively cured with antibiotics. But not just any old antibiotics. The antibiotics most often prescribed to kill the bacteria that causes gonorrhea are azithromycin or doxycycline. Your doctor will either have you take single doses of ceftriaxone or cefixime. Talk to your doctor about which option might be best for you.

If I get gonorrhea once, can I get it again?

Once cured, the gonorrhea infection should clear within a week, but, yes, you can be re-infected with gonorrhea. Being cured doesn’t mean being immune. You can get it again. That’s why sexual partners should be treated at the same time so that the untreated partner still harboring the bacterial infection doesn’t reinfect the treated partner. And always complete your round of antibiotics.

People treated for gonorrhea are often treated for chlamydia at the same time.

Since people infected with gonorrhea are often also infected with chlamydia, doctors usually recommend treatments for both infections at once. This involves another antibiotic: either cefixine orally in pill or liquid form; or ceftriaxone as a single shot.

Pregnant women can take antibiotics too.

Always consult with your doctor, but gonorrhea can be treated during pregnancy with certain antibiotics. You may not be comfortable taking antibiotics during your first term, but it’s during the first term when it’s most important to protect the fetus from the infection. Gonorrhea is the leading cause of prenatal (before baby’s birth) pneumonia and conjunctivitis (pink eye) in newborns according to the CDC. These problem can lead to infant mortality (death) or blindness. Gonorrhea can also be passed from mother to baby at birth. Your doctor will help you weigh the risks involved to come up with a treatment that makes you feel most comfortable. The oral antibiotic recommended for pregnant women are azithromycin, erythromycin, or sometimes amoxicillin.