Gonorrhea
Introduction
Gonorrhea, a highly contagious sexually transmitted disease (STD), is one of the most common STDs in the United States.
Sometimes referred to as "the clap," gonorrhea may produce signs and symptoms such as a burning sensation when urinating or a thick discharge from the penis or vagina. Many people experience mild or no signs or symptoms. Left untreated, gonorrhea can cause serious complications, especially in women.
The cause of gonorrhea is a bacterium that spreads through sexual contact. The disease can also be passed from a mother to her child during birth.
Treatment for gonorrhea involves a course of antibiotic medications to cure the infection. Practicing safe sex is important in preventing gonorrhea.
Signs and Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of gonorrhea may include:
- Thick, cloudy or bloody discharge from the penis or vagina
- Pain or burning sensation when urinating
- Frequent urination
- Pain during sexual intercourse
How gonorrhea affects men
In men, first there's often a tingling sensation in the urethra, the passageway that carries urine from your bladder to the outside of your body. Later, urination becomes painful and you may notice a discharge from your penis. As the infection progresses, urethral pain usually becomes more pronounced and the discharge becomes more profuse and thick.
How gonorrhea affects women
In women, the signs and symptoms, if any, may be so mild you may not realize you have the infection. Often, the only clue that you may have gonorrhea comes when someone who you've had sexual contact with develops the disease. The infection usually affects the cervix and other reproductive organs as well as the urethra. In some women, gonorrhea causes frequent, urgent and painful urination along with an abnormal discharge from the vagina or urethra.
Causes
The bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae, also referred to as gonococcus, causes gonorrhea. The bacterium is spread through semen or vaginal fluids during unprotected sexual contact, heterosexual or homosexual, with an infected partner.
Complications
Not receiving adequate treatment for gonorrhea may lead to complications. These may include:
- Inflammation of the epididymis. In men, epididymitis — inflammation of the rear portion of the testicles where the sperm ducts are located (epididymis) — is an acute condition treatable with antibiotics and pain relievers. If untreated, it may lead to infertility.
- Pelvic inflammatory disease. In women, the bacteria can spread into the uterus and fallopian tubes, causing pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which may result in scarring of the tubes, greater risk of ectopic pregnancy and infertility. PID may lead to abdominal pain, backache, irregular menstrual periods, pain during intercourse and foul-smelling vaginal discharge. It's a serious infection that requires immediate treatment by a doctor.
- Spread of the infection during childbirth. A pregnant woman with untreated gonorrhea may spread the infection to her baby as the baby passes through the birth canal during delivery. In an infant, gonorrhea may cause complications such as blindness and widespread infection of the joints and blood.
- Anorectal gonorrhea. In both sexes, anorectal gonorrhea may result from anal intercourse with an infected person or from the infection spreading from the genital area. It may cause some discomfort in and discharge from the anal area, but in many cases no signs or symptoms are present.
- Irritation of your throat and tonsils. Oral sex can lead to pharyngeal gonorrhea with a sore throat, pain on swallowing and redness of the throat and tonsils.
- Eye inflammation. Infection may sometimes spread to the eye by touching or rubbing the eye with your hand after it has been in contact with infected discharge. Gonorrhea in such cases can cause a red, inflamed eye (conjunctivitis). In babies who contract gonorrhea during childbirth, gonorrheal eye infections can lead to blindness.
- Widespread infection in your body. Rarely, the bacterium that causes gonorrhea can spread through the bloodstream to cause infection in other parts of your body. Fever, rash, skin sores, joint pain, swelling and stiffness are possible results.
Treatment
Doctors prescribe antibiotic medications for gonorrhea treatment. Because more and more strains of gonorrhea are becoming drug resistant, it's important that you take the full course of medication. Not taking the full course of medication may allow the most drug-resistant organisms to survive. Although over-the-counter pain relievers may reduce signs or symptoms, these medications won't cure gonorrhea.
Babies born to mothers with gonorrhea are treated with antibiotics, as well. The application of silver nitrate or another medication to the baby's eyes immediately after birth can prevent infection of the baby's eyes.
Prevention
To prevent the spread of gonorrhea, use latex condoms and avoid oral sex. Gonorrhea is highly contagious, and yet may cause no signs or symptoms.
If you have gonorrhea, avoid sexual contact until a course of antibiotics completely eliminates your infection. Having had gonorrhea once doesn't provide you immunity from getting it again. Consider alerting your sexual partner or partners so that they may be tested for the infection, as well, and help prevent further spread of the disease. Your state health department can work with you to accomplish this.
Schedule a follow-up examination with your doctor after you've completed the course of antibiotics. Your doctor can check to see if your infection has been completely eliminated.
Informations obtained from National Institute of Health.