How will your doctor determine if you have gonorrhea infection?

In order to do this, the doctor will conduct a physical examination. Gonorrhea infection is often indicated by pain or tenderness in the vaginal area in women and a pus-filled discharge from the vagina or penis, along with high white blood cell count and fever.

Diagnosis: Gonorrhea Infection?

The most reliable method of detecting gonorrhea infection is laboratory culture testing, of course. The doctor or nurse will take a sample from the discharge or from parts of the body most likely to be infected like the urethra (where you pass urine), the cervix (opening to the womb), the rectum, or the throat. This sample is then taken to the laboratory and incubated to see if the gonorrhea bacteria will grow from the sample. Normally, it takes about 2 days for the gonorrhea infection to be detected using this method.

Mot hospitals today and many doctors' offices have urine or discharge kits that are used for screening gonorrhea infection. The procedure, called a Gram stain, allows the doctor to see the gonorrhea bacterium under a microscope from the sample (the stain). This procedure is deemed not be as sensitive as laboratory culture testing but is reliable enough for screening purposes.