A GP guide to gonorrhoea
Vigilance is vital: testing is warranted as part of any routine STI screen, as well as for patients with suggestive symptoms.
Need to know:
Gonorrhoea is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a Gram-negative diplococcus (see figure 1). Notifications have been increasing, although in 2020 there were 29,497 gonorrhoea notifications in Australia,1 a slight decrease on previous years, likely due to changes in sexual behaviour and restrictions reducing testing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The true burden of gonorrhoea is likely much higher than notifications suggest because of asymptomatic infection and under-testing.
