How long does antibiotic treatment take to work for gonorrhoea?

Discharge or burning may settle before infection at the throat, rectum, or another site is fully assessed. Symptoms can also be absent, so improvement cannot confirm clearance. Persistent symptoms may reflect resistance, reinfection, an untreated partner, or a different condition; a clinician may recommend examination or repeat testing.

Take treatment exactly as prescribed and avoid vaginal, anal, and oral sex until your clinician confirms the waiting period has passed. Tell recent partners promptly so they can seek testing and treatment. Use condoms or other barriers when you resume sex, according to clinical advice. Read more about [Gonorrhoea](/conditions/gonorrhoea/) and [Antibiotic Treatment](/treatments/medical-management/antibiotic-treatment/).

Contact the treating clinic if discharge, pain, or burning is not easing, returns, or worsens after treatment. Seek urgent care for severe pelvic or abdominal pain, fever with joint pain or rash, severe testicular pain or swelling, eye pain with discharge, or trouble seeing. These complications need prompt assessment.

Ask whether a test of cure is needed for the infection site involved, when sex can safely resume, which partners need notification, and whether screening for other sexually transmitted infections is appropriate.