Gonorrhoea is an infectious disease that is transmitted through sexual activity. It can cause complications for women that are pregnant and testing is offered to at-risk women to control the disease. Gonorrhoea testing Australia is required in some cases of high-risk groups of women.
Gonorrhoea can be asymptomatic in women, so many may not be aware that they have it, or can be indicated by abnormal vaginal discharges, experiencing pelvic pain or having difficulty urinating. During pregnancy, if a woman is suffering from a Gonorrhoea testing Australia, it can cause negative obstetric and neonatal outcomes which can endanger the unborn child’s health.
Many countries recommend testing for the infection during pregnancy for all women. The Royal College of General Practitioners, however, supports testing only for women that are considered to be at risk from contracting the disease. In Australia the prevalence of the disease can vary significantly by region, so health professionals generally assess the rate of sexually transmitted infection in their region before recommending the test to women they are treating.
Evidence has been presented that suggests testing and subsequent treatment of pregnant women at high risk of Gonorrhoea may produce adverse outcomes. Potential harms include false positive results, anxiety to the patient and unnecessary use of antibiotics that are used to treat it. While there are potential negative outcomes from testing when it is not requires, the consensus among medical practitioners is that these harms are outweighed by the positive outcomes of testing women that are infected and treating them early in the pregnancy.
Gonorrhoea testing needs to be discussed with a woman as part of her decision-making before testing takes place and should emphasize the following:
• Gonorrhoea can be present even when there are no obvious symptoms
• Risk factors for sexually transmitted diseases need to be discussed with the patient
• Sometimes testing produces false positive results which can have negative results in unnecessary treatment
• Gonorrhoea causes serious problems with pregnancy including miscarriage, pre-term birth (and its attendant complications) and infections in the newborn child
• If infection is identified in the patient they must notify their sexual partners and abstain from sex until the condition has been treated
• Sometimes a second test will need to be performed and repeat testing for the disease may be required for women at high risk of re/infection
Doctors need to communicate openly about the reasons for testing, take a holistic approach where an infection is found and continue with follow-up to ensure the infection is eradicated during their pregnancy.
