What Causes Urethral Discharge?

Urethral discharge can have various causes, ranging in severity from 'needs attention' to 'very serious'. Finding the true cause means ruling out or confirming each possibility – in other words, diagnosis.

Diagnose your symptoms now!

understand what's happening to your body
identify any nutritional deficiencies
have a doctor review your case (optional)

Diagnosis is usually a complex process due to the sheer number of possible causes and related symptoms. In order to diagnose urethral discharge, we could:

Research the topic
Find a doctor with the time
Use a diagnostic computer system.

The process is the same, whichever method is used.

Step 1: List all Possible Causes

We begin by identifying the disease conditions which have "urethral discharge" as a symptom. Here are three possibilities:

Chlamydia
Gonorrhea
Urethritis-Urethral Syndrome

Step 2: Build a Symptom Checklist

We then identify all possible symptoms and risk factors of each possible cause, and check the ones that apply:

having had many sexual partners

genital sores

gonorrhea

chlamydia

slightly painful urination

having had very many sexual partners

having had a non-AIDS STD

... and so on

Step 3: Rule Out or Confirm each Possible Cause

A differential diagnosis of your symptoms and risk factors finds the likely cause of urethral discharge:

Cause	Probability	Status
Urethritis-Urethral Syndrome	90%	Confirm
Chlamydia	26%	Unlikely
Gonorrhea	2%	Ruled out

* This is a simple example to illustrate the process

Arriving at a Correct Diagnosis

The Analyst™ is our online diagnosis tool that learns all about you through a straightforward process of multi-level questioning, providing diagnosis at the end.

In the Urinary Symptoms section of the questionnaire, The Analyst™ will ask the following question about unusual urethral discharge:

Have you had any form of unusual urethral discharge? In other words, do you have a discharge from the same opening that you pee through?

Possible responses:

→ No / don't know
→ Minor, in the past only
→ Major, in the past only
→ Current minor problem
→ Current major problem

Based on your response to this question, which may indicate either history of urethral discharge or urethral discharge, The Analyst™ will consider possibilities such as:

STD Chlamydia

STD Gonorrhea

Concerned or curious about your health? Try The Analyst™