Can Cranberry Juice Treat Gonorrhea?

While a gonorrhea infection can cause painful urination similar to a bladder infection, using cranberry juice to treat gonorrhea would be ineffective. Gonorrhea infections require prompt diagnosis and proper treatment to resolve the infection, prevent further spread and reduce your risk of experiencing complications. If you suspect you have gonorrhea, you should seek appropriate medical care.

Gonorrhea

The bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae lives and thrives in moist and warm parts of the body, such as:

• the urethra
  
• rectum
  
• cervix
  
• eyes
  
• even the back of the throat

Gonorrhea, also referred to as the clap or drip, is a common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 700,000 sexually active people are diagnosed with gonorrhea annually 12.

Symptoms

Many people who have gonorrhea do not experience symptoms initially. As the infection grows, men may experience dysuria, or pain with urination; abnormal discharge from the penis; or swollen and tender testicles. Women may also experience dysuria, abnormal vaginal discharge or, in serious cases, pelvic pain. Because one of the more common symptoms of gonorrhea is painful urination, you may mistake a gonorrhea infection for a urinary tract infection.

Cranberry Juice

Cranberry juice is a home remedy that some people use to assist with treatment of bladder infections. Cranberry juice increases the acidity in your urine to make your bladder a more hostile environment for the bacteria that cause bladder infections. Cranberries also appear to interfere with the tendency by bacteria to cling to the inside of your bladder, facilitating your body in flushing out unwanted pathogens as you empty your urine. While cranberry juice may be a useful adjunctive treatment for bladder infections, it will not properly treat gonorrhea infections.

Gonorrhea Treatment

Because gonorrhea lives in other warm and moist areas besides the bladder and urethra, you need to take systemic antibiotics to fully treat the infection. Your health care provider might choose to treat you with oral antibiotics or an antibiotic injection. You should follow your health care provider's instructions as your treatment may be different than someone else's. Gonorrhea has developed resistance to certain types of antibiotics in certain areas of the world. Gonorrhea poses a significant public health problem and your state's health department may become involved with your treatment to prevent additional spreading of the disease.