Is it possible to get Gonorrhea working in a nursing home?

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I have a co-worker who is pregnant who went in to get a swab done to check for any possible infections. Well, it turns out that she tested positive for gonorrhea. Her and her Husband both have been faithful the whole time they have been together. They already have another child so she was tested about a year ago and nothing came back. Would it be possible for her to have came into contact with the infection while working? She is a CNA so she deals with quite a lot of things like that. Or is it more likely that it was a lab error with a false positive?

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She didn't get it working in the nursing home as a CNA. You know as much about your friends' marriage as they want you to know- no more than that.

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Specializes in Hospice.

The only way she would get it from a nursing home is if she was doing the tango with a patient or staff member. The ONLY way to contract it is through sexual encounters wheter lady partsl, anal, or oral.

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Specializes in LTC.

I smell a troll.

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Most anything is "possible" ... However, the scenario you are asking about would involve a specific and rather icky set of circumstances involving, at the very least, being extremely deficient in standard infection control techniques. Catching gonorrhea isn't like catching a cold, and isn't something that would "just happen."

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The only way she would get it from a nursing home is if she was doing the tango with a patient or staff member. The ONLY way to contract it is through sexual encounters wheter lady partsl, anal, or oral.

Not entirely true. N. gonorrhoeae is a common cause of adult conjunctivitis. If she was treating an asymptomatic pt (bed bath or wiping genital area) and then touched near her eye without properly washing her hands its possible to have contracted it.

But the nurse would have known due to the conjunctivitis caused by the infection.

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Specializes in Neuro.

I think you can't say they are faithful to one another. You aren't with them 24/7. Not saying they aren't but what you also don't know is if they are into interesting extra curricular activities, together or alone. Anything is possible.

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