Dear Counsellor:

My boyfriend told me I had infected him with gonorrhoea. I find this very strange as I was sexually active for more than four months before I had sex with him. Please, tell me a little about this sexually transmitted disease and whether it is only sexually transmitted. Could my boyfriend have been infected by any other way than sex?

Worried

Dear Worried:

Gonorrhoea is spread through sexual contact (oral, vaginal, or anal). Gonorrhoea infections can be cured with antibiotics, but you must go to the doctor to be diagnosed, because most women, and some men, don't have signs or symptoms. If left untreated, gonorrhoea infections can be serious, especially for women. They may develop a potentially serious condition called Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID). PID can cause hospitalisation, infertility, the need to have surgery to remove inflamed fallopian tubes, and even death, if a pregnancy occurs in the tube of an infected woman, causing it to rapture (burst).

If you are infected or exposed to gonorrhoea, just think next time that you could contract HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, or herpes, sexually transmitted infections for which there is no cure.

I suggest you visit a doctor so you can be properly diagnosed and the right medication prescribed.