Urethritis Symptoms
Around 25% of patients with NGU have urethritis that is asymptomatic, and therefore present to a clinician after a partner screening. C trachomatis infection is asymptomatic in as many as 75% of women. (6)
Patients suffering from urethritis may experience the following signs and symptoms:
- Discharge from the urethra: may appear yellow, green, brown, or tinged with blood; not connected with sexual activity.
- Dysuria (in men): Usually occurs in the meatus or distal penis, is worse during the morning void, and is worsened with alcohol consumption; neither frequency nor urgency is usually seen.
- Stinging/itching: Pain or irritation associated with urethral itching, particularly between voids.
- Orchalgia: Pain associated with the testicles.
- Menstrual symptoms may worsen (occasionally).
- There usually are no systemic symptoms (eg, fever, chills, nausea, sweats).
Symptoms of urethritis, in addition to pain, include:
- Constantly or urgently needing to urinate
- Inability to start urinating
- When a person is not urinating, itching, pain, or discomfort can also occur. Ureteritis also causes the following symptoms:
- Pain during sexual activity
- Discharge from the vaginal or urethral openings
- Blood in the urine or semen of men
Urethritis in Men
The classic symptoms of urethritis are burning and pain when urinating. A urinary urge might also accompany these symptoms. Other symptoms include itching, swelling, or tenderness in the penis, pain during sexual contact, or blood in the semen or urine.
Discharge from the penis may also be associated with some infections. Herpes urethritis, another sexually transmitted disease, can cause painful ulcers on the genitals.
Simple urethritis is not associated with fever or serious illness. This disease, however, may lead to the following conditions if it spreads to other parts of the genital or urinary tracts or into the bloodstream:
- Pain in the back
- Pain in the abdomen
- Having a high fever
- Vomiting
- Nausea
- Bloody urine or sperm
- Ejaculation that hurts
The following symptoms may also occur:
- Inflammation of joints and other symptoms throughout the body
- Usually, but not always, there is a discharge of fluid from the penis.
- Passing urine causes pain or burning. You might mistake this for a urine infection.
- There may be irritation or soreness in the penis, or a desire to pass urine often.
- A groin area with enlarged lymph nodes
- It is rare for men to get a fever.
Symptoms of urethritis may never appear in some men. It is estimated that half of the men with chlamydial infections (the most common cause of NGU) are asymptomatic.