Symptoms:

Symptoms of gonorrhea usually appear 2 - 5 days after infection, however, in men, symptoms may take up to a month to appear. Some people do not have symptoms. They may be completely unaware that they have caught the disease, and therefore do not seek treatment. This increases the risk of complications and the chances of passing the infection on to another person.

Symptoms in men include:

• Burning and pain while urinating
• Increased urinary frequency or urgency
• Discharge from the penis (white, yellow, or green in color)
• Red or swollen opening of penis (urethra)
• Tender or swollen testicles
• Sore throat

Symptoms in women can be very mild or non-specific, and may be mistaken for another type of infection. They include:

• Vaginal discharge
• Burning and pain while urinating
• Increased urination
• Sore throat
• Painful sexual intercourse
• Severe pain in lower abdomen (if the infection spreads to the fallopian tubes and stomach area)
• Fever (if the infection spreads to the fallopian tubes and stomach area)

Signs and tests:

Tests used to diagnose gonorrhea in women include:

• Cervical gram stain
• Endocervical culture for gonorrhea

Tests used to diagnose gonorrhea in men include:

• Gram stain of urethral discharge
• Urethral discharge culture for gonorrhea

Tests used to diagnose gonorrhea in both men and women:

• Throat swab culture
• Rectal culture
• Ligase chain reaction (LCR) test

Gonorrhea can be quickly identified by staining a sample of tissue or discharge from the infected and then looking at it under the microscope. This is called a gram stain. Although this method is the fastest, it is not the most certain.

Cultures (cells that grow in a lab dish) provide absolute proof of infection. Generally, samples for a culture are taken from the cervix, vagina, urethra, anus, or throat. Cultures can provide a preliminary diagnosis often within 24 hours and a confirmed diagnosis within 72 hours.

DNA tests for the gonorrhea have been developed. They are especially useful as a screening test because they are quicker than cultures. Such tests can also be performed on urine samples, which are a lot easier to collect than samples from the genital area.