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How to differentiate between Chlamydia and Gonorrhea infection - By expert STD doctor.
Chlamydia and gonorrhea can both affect various body areas: the oral cavity, eyes, rectum, urethra, and vagina. The focus of this article is chlamydia [1] Chlamydia – CDC Basic Fact Sheet https://www.cdc.gov/std/chlamydia/stdfact-chlamydia.htm and gonorrhea that affect the urethra or/and vagina (genital chlamydia and genital gonorrhea).
The symptoms and presentation of these two conditions can be very similar. Chlamydia and gonorrhea often coexist (24% of males and 38% of females with gonorrhea are chlamydia-positive), which results in symptom overlap.
History of symptoms
What preceded the appearance of symptoms?
Both conditions are sexually transmitted and can be caused by unprotected insertive vaginal and receiving oral sex. For the infection to incur, the vaginal and urethral mucosa need to be exposed to an infected partner’s bodily fluids, such as saliva, vaginal fluid, urethral fluid, or semen.
Incubation period
The incubation period for gonorrhea is much shorter than that of chlamydia, [2] Chlamydia Symptoms https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/chlamydia/symptoms/ which means gonorrhea symptoms appear much sooner after exposure. On average, gonorrhea symptoms appear within a week and chlamydia symptoms appear within 2 weeks.
How are the symptoms changing over time?
The progression of these diseases—regardless of the area of the body affected—is very similar.
When the vaginal area is affected
Both conditions can begin as minimal vaginal itch and vaginal discharge. With gonorrhea, the discharge is usually more significant.
Unlike gonorrhea, chlamydia [3] Chlamydia https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4023-chlamydia can cause vaginal pain with sex as well as vaginal bleeding between periods and with sex.
Chlamydia is more likely to progress to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) than gonorrhea.
When the urethral area is affected
The urethral area becomes infected more often in males than in females.
Both chlamydia and gonorrhea can begin with urinary symptoms of burning, urgency, and increased frequency. Urinary symptoms may progress to a urethral discharge, which is more common and more significant with gonorrhea.
In males, urethral infection can progress to epididymitis (testicular infection).
What can be seen during a visual exam?
Discharge
✓ Chlamydia, unlike gonorrhea, [4] Gonorrhea https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gonorrhea/symptoms-causes/syc-20351774 causes a watery, transparent discharge. The amount of discharge is minimal, and sometimes the urethra must be squeezed for the discharge to be visible.
✓ Gonorrhea discharge is greenish, thick, and abundant (dripping).
✓ Chlamydia discharge, unlike gonorrhea discharge, can have a foul smell.
Genital area
Both chlamydia and gonorrhea [5] Gonorrhea – CDC Detailed Fact Sheet https://www.cdc.gov/std/gonorrhea/stdfact-gonorrhea-detailed.htm can cause redness and swelling of the affected areas:
✓ Tip of the urethra
✓ Vagina opening
The degree of swelling is usually more significant with gonorrhea, but this depends on the disease progression either condition.
This picture shows the differences between chlamydia and gonorrhea.
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View Gallery 5
Chlamydia
Gonorrhea
Gonorrhea discharge
Chlamydia discharge
