Lots of factores come into play about whether you will be positive for gonorrhea if you have sex with someone who is infected….How many times you were together, how long sex lasted, if you peed immediately afterwards, if you gargled with Listerine® straight after (see another publication here)… But this study supports the figures we usually quote.

They used data from 400 of their patients, so this is a big study.

(1) Women who had been in contact with gonorrhea were more likely to be positive than men

(2) Men who have sex with me also had high levels

Overall, about some 30% of people were positive for gonorrhea. So it’s never 100% certain that you will infected if you have sex with someone who is positive, and therefore it’s best to do tests than getting antibiotics “just in case”.

If you have been in this situation and need advice, please get in touch with me.

Bromley T, Sundran D, Khaw C, Ratnayake M. Neisseria gonorrhoeae positivity in contacts presenting to a sexual health centre. Sex Health. 2023 Sep 26. doi: 10.1071/SH22160. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37749029.