A new study shows that the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea can double the risk of bladder cancer in men.

Previous studies had already suggested this link; this new piece of research from the Harvard School of Public Health confirms the two fold risk of bladder cancer in men with a history of gonorrhea.

A history of gonococcal infection was also linked to a more serious cancer that was more advanced and invasive and therefore more difficult to treat.

Gonorrhea infection can be recurring – it causes local inflammation and symptoms such as pain on passing urine and incomplete emptying of the bladder.

At the present time it is not known whether it is the inflammation or the related symptoms that contribute to the development of the bladder cancer.