individual and through a physical examination. In women, urethritis can be diagnosed with a number of tests including: urine test, blood test, vaginal culture, cytoscopy, or a nucleic acid test. Women will also have abdominal and pelvic exams to check for urethral discharge, and tenderness of the lower abdomen or urethra. In men, urethritis is diagnosed by at least one of the following: mucopurulent or purulent urethral discharge on examination, ≥ 2 white blood cells per oil immersion field from a Gram stain of a urethral swab, or positive leukocyte esterase and/or ≥10 white blood cells per high power field of the first-void urine. Men who meet the criteria for urethritis commonly get nucleic acid amplification testing for Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae to determine the type of urethritis. Men will have an exam on the abdomen, bladder area, penis, and scrotum. Additionally, a digital rectal examination of the prostate may be used if rectal pain is reported or if the individual is of older age. Prevention Primary prevention can be accomplished by the reduction of modifiable risk factors that increase the likelihood of developing urethritis. These factors include, but are not limited to, sexual intercourse (particularly unprotected intercourse) and genital irritation from contact with tight clothing, physical activity, and various irritants such as soap, lotion and spermicides. Bacterial infections leading to gonococcal and non-gonococcal urethritis can be prevented by: sexual abstinence use of barrier contraception, such as condoms pre-exposure vaccination: HPV and Hepatitis B vaccines reducing number of sexual partners Chlorhexidine is an antibacterial agent that covers a wide spectrum of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Rinsing with 15 ml of a 0.12% or 10 ml of 0.2% chlorhexidine solution for 30 seconds produced large and prolonged reductions in salivary bacterial counts within 7 hours of its use. One hypothesis in 2010 posed the potential use of chlorhexidine rinsing before oral sex as a prevention strategy of recurrent non-gonococcal urethritis caused by bacteria entering the urethra from oral cavity following "insertive oral intercourse", particularly in men. However, actual clinical studies are yet to be carried out in order to prove this hypothesis. Treatment Antimicrobials are generally the drug of choice for gonococcal and non-gonococcal infections. The CDC in 2015 suggests using a dual therapy that consists of two antimicrobials that have different mechanisms of action would be an effective treatment strategy for urethritis and it could also potentially slow down