Online gonorrhoea test referral · Australia-wide testing
FREEwith Medicare (bulk-billed)
A Specialist GP arranges your test over a quick phone call — they review your symptoms and exposure, then send your pathology referral by SMS. No Medicare? Prefer no call? Order it online for $39 instead.
Gonorrhoea is often symptomless, so testing the right site matters.
Book a bulk-billed phone consult — or order a $39 referral
Get tested at any pathology lab Australia-wide — simply walk in
Results by SMS in 2-3 days — free telehealth if positive
Pathology tests covered by Medicare and most Private Health Insurers.
Gonorrhoea Testing
Gonorrhoea has a window period: test from 2 weeks after a possible exposure. Testing sooner can give a false negative. Just as important, gonorrhoea must be tested at the right site — a urine sample alone misses throat and rectal infection, so mention oral or anal sex so the right swabs are added.
Not sure which option? A phone consult suits anyone with symptoms, a partner who has tested positive, or a known exposure — a Specialist GP can take a history and choose the right tests, including throat and rectal swabs. With no symptoms, the no-appointment referral is ideal for routine screening.
How the test works. Gonorrhoea is detected by a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT), which is highly sensitive. Genital testing uses a urine sample; throat and rectal swabs are added if relevant — mention oral or anal sex so the right sites are covered.
Around half of people have no symptoms. When symptoms do appear they include thick discharge, burning when peeing, pelvic or testicular pain, or bleeding between periods. Throat and rectal infections are usually silent, which is part of why they get missed and why testing matters even when you feel well.
Why testing multiple sites matters. Gonorrhoea infects the throat and rectum, not just the genitals — and those sites are often the only ones infected. A single urine test can miss it entirely, so your exposure history guides which swabs are taken. This matters more for gonorrhoea than for most other infections — if you have had oral or anal sex, a throat or rectal swab is often the only way to pick it up.
Why it matters to find it. Left untreated, gonorrhoea can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, epididymitis, and fertility problems, and rates are rising in Australia. It often occurs alongside chlamydia, so testing for both together makes sense.
Treatment is different from chlamydia. Gonorrhoea is treated with an injection rather than an oral course, partly because of growing antibiotic resistance. If you test positive, a Specialist GP calls you and arranges treatment.
Antibiotic resistance. Gonorrhoea is becoming harder to treat as it develops resistance to common antibiotics, which is why confirming the infection with a proper test and using the recommended treatment — rather than guessing — is important.
Cost and confidentiality. Pathology tests are covered by Medicare and most Private Health Insurers. Your referral and results are private, and labs do not disclose the reason for testing. You can also screen more broadly with the full STI test.
Re-testing and partners. Because re-infection is common, re-testing about three months after treatment is recommended, and current partners should be tested and treated to avoid passing it back and forth. A test of cure is also advised for throat infections, which are harder to clear than genital ones.
Frequently asked questions
At least 1 to 2 weeks. The NAAT test detects the genetic material of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and the bacterial load at the site needs about that long to be reliably detectable. If you have symptoms, testing earlier is reasonable because symptomatic infections usually have higher bacterial loads. For screening when there are no symptoms, 2 weeks is the standard wait. Testing too early risks a false negative even if you are infected.
Yes. Throat gonorrhoea is more common than throat chlamydia and almost never causes a sore throat. A urine test alone will miss it. Throat infections are also more likely to be where antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea develops, because antibiotic levels in throat tissue are lower than in the genital tract. If you have had oral sex within the testing window, the throat swab is the appropriate test.
Antibiotic resistance. Gonorrhoea is the STI most affected by resistance in Australia. Treatment occasionally fails — particularly for throat infection — and a retest 2 weeks after treatment catches this. The 2-week timing is far enough out for the bacterium to be detectable again if treatment has not worked, but not so far that re-infection from a new exposure becomes the more likely explanation. After the 2-week retest, a 3-month retest follows to catch re-infection from untreated partners. Chlamydia does not have this resistance concern and only needs the 3-month retest.
Yes, particularly if you have new or multiple sexual partners. Around half of gonorrhoea infections cause no symptoms at all. Throat and rectal infections almost never cause symptoms. Untreated gonorrhoea can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, and rarely disseminated infection. Current Australian guidelines recommend annual gonorrhoea testing for sexually active gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, and gonorrhoea is added to chlamydia tests at no extra cost for most pathology providers.
Repeat the test 2 weeks after your last sexual contact with them. A negative result early in the window can become positive once the infection has had time to develop. Some clinicians offer treatment without waiting for a confirmed positive result when a regular partner has a known diagnosis — this is a reasonable approach particularly if you have symptoms or were exposed recently. The Specialist GP can discuss whether starting treatment without waiting for the result makes sense for your situation, although for gonorrhoea specifically, getting a confirmed positive test first is preferred so that resistance monitoring can apply.
Your result is confidential. Your regular GP is not automatically notified unless you ask to be copied in, and pathology labs do not disclose the reason for testing. If you would prefer the result kept separate from your other medical records, mention it at the consult and it can be arranged. Gonorrhoea is a notifiable infection, so the lab reports the case to the state public health authority for surveillance, but that report does not usually include your identifying details.
It changes what the lab does with a positive sample. When a NAAT is positive for gonorrhoea, the lab may add a culture to grow the bacteria and check which antibiotics will work. Culture results take longer than NAAT (3 to 7 days vs 1 to 2 days) but they guide treatment when standard regimens may not work. The Australian Gonococcal Surveillance Programme uses culture data to track resistance patterns nationally, and treatment guidelines are updated based on what they find.
The most common cause of repeat positive results is re-infection from an untreated sexual partner, particularly a regular partner. Treatment cures the infection in the person being treated, but if untreated partners continue to have it, the infection passes back. Other patterns: missed throat or rectal infection from the previous treatment, or new exposures from other partners. A Specialist GP can help work through which situation applies and discuss strategies for partner notification or partner treatment.
Pathology lab fees for gonorrhoea testing have a Medicare item number. The fee structure depends on your provider and your Medicare eligibility. People without Medicare (international students, visitors, some visa holders) have different fee arrangements. See our fees page for current Clinic365 fees, and discuss your specific situation with the Specialist GP at booking.
For most people, the NAAT alone is enough for initial diagnosis. A culture is added when a NAAT comes back positive and treatment decisions need resistance information — this is increasingly common but not always done. Culture requires a fresh swab put into special transport medium, so mentioning a culture request to the pathology collection centre matters. The Specialist GP can discuss whether a culture is worth adding based on your circumstances.
