What is the prognosis for gonorrhea?
The prognosis for patients with gonorrhea varies based on how early the disease is detected and treated. If treated early and properly, patients can be entirely cured of the disease. Up to 40% of female patients who are not treated early may develop pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and the possibility of resulting sterility. Although the risk of infertility is higher in women than in men, men may also become sterile if the urethra becomes inflamed (urethritis) as a result of an untreated gonorrhea infection. Following an episode of PID, a woman is six to 10 times more likely, should a pregnancy occur, to have a pregnancy develop outside the uterus (ectopic pregnancy), which can result in death. Liver infection may also occur in untreated women. In approximately 2% of patients with untreated gonorrhea, the gonococcal infection may spread throughout the body and can cause fever, arthritis-like joint pain, and skin lesions. Source: The Gale Group. Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, 3rd ed.
