Gonorrhea: How to Care for Your Teen

Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease (STD). STDs (also called sexually transmitted infections, or STIs) spread through sex with an infected person. It is important for your teen to get treatment with an antibiotic right away. Gonorrhea that isn't treated can cause long-lasting problems and spread to other people.

Treatment:

• If the area where your teen got the antibiotic shot is sore, they can put a cool wet washcloth on it.

• If your teen got a prescription for antibiotics to take by mouth, be sure they take the medicine exactly as the health care provider recommended.

• Your teen should tell all sexual partners from the past 2 months to get treatment too, even if they don't have signs of gonorrhea.

• Your teen should not have sex until:

  • Treatment is finished and there are no more signs of an STD. This is usually at least 1 week after treatment starts.

  • Their partners have been treated and have no symptoms.

Follow up:

• Take your teen for follow-up STD testing as recommended by the health care provider.

• Be sure your teen gets all doses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine (shot). HPV is an STD that can lead to some kinds of cancer and genital warts.

Your teen:

• was prescribed antibiotics and is not taking them

• is not getting better after a few days on the antibiotics

• gets better, then develops signs of an STD (belly pain, fever, abnormal discharge, pain when peeing, or genital warts or sores)

• starts to have joint pain

• Your daughter has severe belly pain.

• Your son has swelling or severe pain in the testicles.

What are the signs of gonorrhea? Signs of gonorrhea include pain in the belly or back; fever; unusual discharge from the vagina, penis, or anus; and pain when peeing. Even if there are no signs of gonorrhea, treatment is needed to help prevent long-lasting problems and stop the infection from spreading to others.

How is gonorrhea diagnosed? To find out if someone has gonorrhea, health care providers might do tests on:

• fluid or discharge from the vagina, urethra, throat, or anus

• urine (pee)

What happens if gonorrhea is not treated? If it's not treated, gonorrhea can lead to:

• permanent damage to a girl's reproductive system, making it hard or impossible for her to get pregnant later on

• swelling in a guy's testicles and tubes at the back of the testicles, possibly preventing him from fathering kids later on

• problems in the joints

Can my teen get gonorrhea again? Yes. People can get gonorrhea again if their partners aren't treated with antibiotics or if they have sex with someone else who has gonorrhea.

How can my teen avoid getting another STD? The best way to avoid an STD is not to have sex (vaginal, oral, or anal). Teens who do have sex should:

• Use a condom every time they have sex (vaginal, oral, or anal).

• Have only one partner, who has been tested and does not have an STD. That partner should not have sex with other people.